The Minority in Parliament has criticised the government’s 2025 Fiscal Policy, accusing the Mahama-led administration of misleading Ghanaians with its announcement to abolish the Valued Added Tax (VAT) on motor insurance and the betting tax.
Addressing the media in Parliament shortly after the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy was presented, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Karaga and former Finance Minister, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, claimed that the betting tax and VAT on motor insurance were never implemented under the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
He argued that the government’s claim of abolishing these taxes was “deceiving the people of Ghana.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, betting tax that they said they had abolished, we never collected betting tax. We never implemented the betting tax, so to come and tell Ghanaians that you have abolished something that was never implemented is to deceive the people of Ghana,” he stated.
On the issue of VAT on motor insurance, the Minority accused the government of attempting to outsmart Ghanaians by introducing VAT on non-life insurance while claiming to exempt motor insurance.
“The Minister announced that they are abolishing VAT on motor insurance. Ladies and gentlemen, we were already not collecting VAT on motor insurance. VAT on motor insurance was exempted. Rather, the Minister was trying to be smart. They have reintroduced VAT on non-life insurance with the exemption of vehicle motor insurance,” Dr Adam asserted.
He described the move as shocking, given that Ghana’s insurance penetration rate stands at just 1.1 per cent, questioning why the government would introduce VAT on non-life insurance policies at a time when the industry is struggling to expand coverage.
