The Member of Parliament for Ketu North, Eric Edem Agbana, has commended President John Dramani Mahama and Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson for scrapping the 10% withholding tax on lottery winnings, popularly known as the “betting tax.” He believes this decision will help restore trust between the youth and the government.
His remarks follow Dr. Forson’s announcement of multiple tax removals, including the betting tax and E-Levy, during the 2025 budget presentation on March 11.
Speaking during a live discussion on X (formerly Twitter), Agbana emphasized that the tax cuts, as promised by the National Democratic Congress (NDC), highlight the importance of political accountability. He stressed that fulfilling campaign promises is crucial for rebuilding public confidence, particularly among young people.
“I felt vindicated that all the taxes they campaigned to abolish have now been scrapped—the E-Levy and the others. It is key and important because we must have a system where young people trust their government.
“There is a general perception that politicians are not truthful, and this stems from leaders failing to fulfill their promises. It is important to hold politicians accountable to their word, so I applaud President Mahama and the Finance Minister for scrapping all those taxes as promised,” he stated.
Agbana also argued that removing these taxes would help close financial loopholes that enable corruption.
“The collection of E-Levy and betting tax is not even adding up to the 12 billion that we are losing to corruption. So, when you stop corruption and stop collecting these taxes, nobody will feel the impact.
“It will not even seem as though we are losing money. The fiscal discipline that the Finance Minister spoke about is key, and I urge young people to hold the government accountable, especially in the area of corruption. We need to prevent wastage in the system,” he added.
