Government cuts petroleum tax to 13%

The Ministry of Finance yesterday laid a Special Petroleum Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2018 that seeks to reduce the Special Petroleum Tax of 15 percent to 13 percent to help reduce the prices of petroleum, which in recent times, have seen upward adjustment.

The Special Petroleum Tax Bill was introduced by the immediate past National Democratic Congress (NDC) government in 2016 to shore up revenues generated from fuel prices when crude oil prices were low.

The new bill to reduce the tax was laid in parliament by a deputy Minister of Finance, Kwaku Kwarteng and referred to the Finance Committee of Parliament for consideration.

The Finance Committee is also expected to report back to plenary for general consideration and approval.

As soon as the new bill was laid, members of the Minority NDC said it was only a window dressing to addressing the high prices of petroleum products and that the tax ought to be completely scrapped for Ghanaians to have respite.

The Deputy Minister however told the press after laying the new bill that the NDC MPs introduced that tax when they were in government.

According to him, the initial tax was 17.5 percent when it was introduced but was later reduced to 15 percent by the NPP government.

He said that the new rate is fixed and that any further increase in fuel prices will not affect the rate to help cushion consumers.

He said as a listening government, the NPP has heard the cries of Ghanaians about the high cost of fuel and would take further steps to help lessen the plight of Ghanaians.