By: Jennifer Nerkie Kenney
The Ghana Revenue Authority has dismissed fears of a major revenue shortfall following the removal of the E-Levy, COVID-19 levy and betting tax, after recording stronger-than-projected collections in the first quarter of 2026.
The concerns had centred on how the government would compensate for the loss of income from the scrapped taxes, particularly at a time when there is increasing demand for alternative fiscal support.
Addressing participants at a forum organised by the Centre for Policy Scrutiny, Technical Advisor to the Commissioner-General of the GRA, Elsie Appau Klu, explained that although the policy shift was widely expected to affect revenue, the actual outcome has been more complex.
She said, “initially, like any person would think, yes, of course, abolishing these three taxes were considered as losses to government, and it puts some pressure on our staff.”
Providing details on current performance, she indicated that revenue collection has surpassed expectations within the period under review.
She added, “this first quarter we have achieved 20% more than what we’ve collected last year. The GRA has collected 33.7 billion Ghana cedis, which is 20% more than what we collected when you compare it to the figures of the same first quarter of last year.”
The remarks come after a paper was presented by tax analyst Isaac Danso Agyiri, who advocated for the reinstatement of the withdrawn taxes as a strategy to strengthen domestic revenue mobilisation.
He projected that reintroducing the taxes could generate as much as GHS18 billion by 2027.
