We'll scrap some taxes in first budget - Ofori-Atta

Government has said although it will implement the tax cuts it promised during the campaign period, it will do so with caution due to the deficits inherited from the previous administration.

Finance Minister-designate Ken Ofori-Atta says the government will carefully analyse the tax cuts and outline the modalities in the 2017 budget, which will be presented to parliament in March.

“The tax cuts will be signalled strongly in the first budget and with the type of deficit you have, we clearly will have to be cautious about it. But in terms of the trajectory object, certainly even in this first budget, certain number of taxes will be eliminated,” Mr Ofori-Atta told the media on the sidelines of an economic meeting between Ghanaian businesses and their Moroccan counterparts in Accra.

The NPP intends cutting the 17.5 per cent VAT on financial services and domestic air tickets and reduce the corporate income tax from 25 to 20 per cent.

Mr Ofori-Atta said the cuts would boost foreign investments to make Ghana attractive for business. “…We are enumerating the number of taxes we promised in the manifesto and then phase them in. But as I mentioned, the need to attract investment is key and so those will also be looked at very seriously.”