Claim: Member of the National Democratic Party (NDC) and a Private Legal Practitioner, Edudzi Tamakloe, claimed that the government accrued 220 billion cedis as tax revenue by December 2022.
Verdict: False. Data from the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy revealed that the government accrued 75 billion cedis from tax revenue.
Full Text
The European Union defines tax revenue as a major source of government revenue which includes the collection of taxes on production and imports, current taxes on income, wealth, etc., capital taxes and social contributions. For the World Bank, “Collecting taxes and fees is a fundamental way for countries to generate public revenues that make it possible to finance investments in human capital, infrastructure, and the provision of services for citizens and businesses.”
In a discussion segment on TV3’s Key Point on the effects of taxes on imports, a private legal practitioner and a member of the National Democratic Congress Legal Team, Edudzi Tamakloe, claimed the government accrued 226 billion dollars in tax revenue as of December 2022.
The claim, published on TV3’s YouTube handle on August 7, 2023, generated over 500 views as of wring this report. The claim can be found from 9:21 – 10:22 of the video.
According to him, “President Akufo Addo, while in opposition, told the people of this country and Bawumia that they are going to move this economy from taxation to production. The record today shows that this government has moved from taxation to more taxation. Today’s record shows that this government has taken more taxes from Ghanaians than any administration since 1992. As the available data will show, by December 2022, tax revenue alone is amounting to 298 billion Ghana cedis”.
Verification
In the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy under Appendix 2A of the Summary of Central Government Operations in 2022 (page 186), it revealed that the government accrued 75 billion cedis in tax revenue for the year 2022.
Prior to achieving this feat, the Ghana Revenue Authority was tasked to collect a total tax revenue of GH¢80.30 billion in 2022, but it was revised to 74 billion cedis. This was captured in the 2022 Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review (page 98).
This feat achieved by the government was captured by various news portals commending the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the government as a whole for exceeding its revenue target. Portals such as citinewsroom.com, graphiconlince.com and the gna.org.gh all had stories to praise the government.
Nevertheless, the projected tax revenue for 2023 is nowhere near the figure quoted by Lawyer Tamakloe. According to the 2023 budget and economic statements, the estimated tax revenue 2023 is 112 billion cedis.
Conclusion
The claim that the government accrued 226 billion cedis as tax revenue by December 2022 is false.
