Edudzi Tamakloe’s assertion that government accrued close to 20 billion cedis from VAT in 2021 false

Claim: A leading member of the National Democratic Congress, Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, claims that the government achieved over 20 billion Ghana cedis from Value-Added Taxation (VAT) in 2021.

Verdict: False. Data from the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Ghana revealed that the government in 2021 generated eleven billion and 12 billion cedis from the Value Added Tax. These figures are nowhere close to the 20 billion claimed by Lawyer Edudzi Tamakloe. 

Full Text

A leading member of the National Democratic Congress, Lawyer Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, claimed that the government generated over 20 billion Ghana cedis from the Value-Added Taxation in 2021.

The claim was made on TV3’s morning show “New Day” on Monday, November 28, 2022. It was also aired on its radio platform, 3FM. It was streamed live on Facebook as well. On Facebook, the statement can be found from 16:34 -17:08 of the show.

He made the assertion when he was reacting to the government’s 2.5% upward adjustment of the Value Added Tax as announced when Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta read the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy on Thursday, November 24, 2022. The increment can be found on page 56 of the budget.

According to Edudzi Tamakloe, “With the benefit of hindsight, Akufo-Addo now begins to appreciate the visionary leadership of Jerry John Rawlings in introducing the Value Added Tax then. But for Value Added Taxation, this country would have collapsed. When Akufo Addo became president last year (2021) alone, Value-Added Taxation gave his administration close to 20 billion Ghana cedis.”

The show on Facebook has received over 14,000 views and over 900 likes. 

Verification

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) defines Value Added Tax as a broad-based tax on the consumption of goods and services. The tax liability arises from transactions at each stage of the value chain, from production to retail, irrespective of the use of the good or service.

However, in previous years, the government has increased the rate of the Value Added Tax, raking in a significant amount of money. But in 2021, did government accumulate close to 20 billion Ghana cedis from VAT? To find the answer to this, DUBAWA relied on data from the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana.

Page 227 of the 2022 budget and economic policy under Appendix 2B of the Economic Classification of Central Government Revenue stipulated that the government had accrued 11 billion Ghana cedis from Value Added Tax.

On the other hand, data from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) revealed that the government made 12 billion cedis from VAT in 2021. 

Revenue (Value Added Tax)
Year	Bank of Ghana (million cedis)	Ministry of Finance (million cedis)
2021	12	11
2020	9	9

To get further clarification on the claim, DUBAWA reached out to Lawyer Edudzi Tamakloe. According to him, the 20 billion cedis he quoted was the revenue target the Ghana Revenue Authority set for 2021. 

“I was speaking about the role VAT has played in the economic development of this country, although it was opposed in the past. Of the revenue targets set by GRA, VAT overall was to contribute 20 billion, so that was the context of the conversation,” he said. 

Conclusion  

Data from the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Ghana recorded eleven and 12 million cedis as revenue accrued from the Value Added Tax in 2021. Thus the assertion by Lawyer Edudzi Tamakloe is false.