Bad news for betting subscribers who have warmly welcomed Dr. Bawumia and Mr. Mahama’s campaign promise to scrap the controversial betting tax if any of them is elected president as opposition to the promise gathers momentum.
The latest to push against the scrapping of the tax is a renowned economist at the University of Ghana, Prof. Peter Quartey.
The director of the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER) justifies that the betting tax plays at least two crucial roles hence it would be a bad idea for it to be scrapped.
Prof. Quartey maintains that apart from complementing the government’s domestic revenue, the betting tax is also a means of regulating behaviours.
He argues that it is imperative that the government discourages betting with taxes so that the youth do not become addicted or recognize it as a business venture. He adds that the proceeds from the betting tax could also be purposely channeled to job creation so that the youth do not depend solely on betting for survival.
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Prof. Peter Quartey who was speaking at the launch of the State of the Economy Report by ISSER noted that, “we do not subscribe to scrapping betting tax because tax is also used to correct behaviour. We don’t want to turn our youth into betting, where betting becomes a business.”
“Rather, let’s tax that sector, use the money to promote jobs, create sustainable jobs that would engage the young people that we churn out from our institutions,” he recommended.
This view is not only held by the economist. President of IMANI Center for Policy and Education, Franklin Cudjoe has also earlier opposed the promise to scrap the controversial tax. Instead of totally scrapping the tax, Franklin Cudjoe is recommending that the next government revise the tax downwards.
