The NDC is passionately against the 10% tax on wager wins imposed on bets by the Akufo-Addo, Bawumia/ NPP government.
In the run-up to the 2020 elections, certain NPP social media activists have made intense efforts to distort a statement that I made concerning sports betting.
In reply to a question regarding how the NDC plans to pay the Sports Development Pay proposed in our 2020 platform, I stated in the aforementioned interview that the NDC will explore placing a tax on sports betting “as it is done in the UK.”
For that reason, the issue that every rational person should ask is: What rules apply to sports betting taxes in the UK?
The solution is quite easy! Bet profits are exempt from tax in the UK. Instead, betting corporations pay high taxes.
This is the instance I gave as one that the NDC administration would take into account after 2020. The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government’s new 10% tax on betting profits is the exact reverse of the UK’s law and the stance I advocated for in 2020. Avoid being duped!
Given the situation of desperation, unemployment, and gruelling suffering that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP regime has thrown Ghanaian adolescents into, sports betting—while undesirable—has become an inevitable evil.
It is callous and completely unjust to tax wins on bets given the dire economic circumstances Ghanaians currently find themselves in, notably the high rate of inflation of 43.1% and the highest unemployment rate, among other things.
In an effort to raise tax income and put an end to this lax attitude towards taxing, the government should be creative. If the government wants to use gambling as a source of tax revenue, it should concentrate on taxing foreign and multinational betting firms operating in the UK and other countries rather than impoverished Ghanaian youths who are forced by the country’s dire financial situation to turn to betting on sports in order to survive.
Furthermore, the NPP’s new 10% tax on betting profits violates the social compact between the ruling party and Ghanaians. The social compact states that an NPP administration will “cut down on the financial burden on Ghanaians” and transition the nation from “levying taxes to production” and that “imposing taxes is an ineffective approach to administration.”
The current NPP administration has adopted over 25 tax measures since taking office in 2017, which is a direct violation of this commitment and a glaring deception of Ghanaians’ confidence. For a large portion of Ghanaians, especially the young people who can’t find work, these levies have conspired to render life intolerable.
More specifically, at this time of unheard-of suffering, the NDC will not and cannot offer assistance to the contradictions that the NPP continues to exhibit over taxation.
Certainly, sports betting has evolved into a haven for the millions of young people without jobs in Ghana who are now dependent on it to survive due to the NPP’s economic mismanagement. Hence, taxing bet winnings at 10% is harsh. The NDC strongly supports requests for the prompt repeal of the recently enacted 10% tax on profitable wagers given the challenging times we are in.
This is the great NDC’s official stance on the recently enacted 10% tax on winning bets.