Claim: The Akufo-Addo government scrapped 17 taxes in the 2017 budget
Source: Gideon Boako and Mohammed Amin Adam, MPs for Tano North and Karaga respectively
Verdict: False
Two members of the Minority in Parliament in different media engagements have claimed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo had abolished 17 taxes in his first budget in 2017.
Dr Gideon Boako, the Member of Parliament for Tano North, speaking on post-budget interview on Asaase Radio on March 13, claimed that the tax cuts during the erstwhile Akufo-Addo administration are unparalleled in Ghana’s history.
The previous government he said: “removed or abolished 17 different taxes, 17. 1 – 7 from the Ghanaian people.”
RelatedNews
Using the Full Fact AI tool, GhanaFact observed that the issue of the past government scrapping a record number of taxes in the 2017 budget had resurfaced.
“Every government depending on the times can bring in a tax or can scrap a tax. This is not the first time taxes have been scrapped in this country. In 2017 we scrapped about 17 different taxes,” former Finance Minister, Mohammed Amin Adam said on Joy News’ PM Express programme, on March 17, 2025.
This fact-check will verify the number of taxes that were scrapped in the 2017 budget.
Fact-check
GhanaFact ran an analysis of the 2017 budget, looking for the number of taxes the then-government abolished.
On page 136 of the document under the heading “Improving The Business Environment” and sub-heading ‘Tax Incentives,’ the then Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta said:
“Mr. Speaker, a number of tax measures have been introduced in recent years in an attempt to deal with revenue shortfalls. Some have proven to be nuisance taxes. They have low revenue yielding potential and at the same time impose significant burden on the private sector and on the average Ghanaian.”
He went further to list the number of abolished taxes and those that were marked for review as part of measures to “reenergize the private sector” and “provide relief for businesses.”
The abolished taxes listed were as follows:
- Abolish the 1% Special Import Levy;
- Abolish the 17.5% VAT/NHIL on financial services;
- Abolish the 17.5% VAT/NHIL on selected imported medicines, that are not produced locally;
- Abolish the 17.5% VAT/NHIL on domestic airline tickets;
- Abolish the 5% percent VAT/NHIL on Real Estate sales;
- Abolish excise duty on petroleum;
- Abolish duty on the importation of spare parts;
- Abolish levies imposed on ‘kayayei’ by local authorities;
- Abolish levies imposed on religious institutions by local authorities;
- Initiate steps to remove import duties on raw materials and machinery for production within the context of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) Protocol;
- Exempt from taxation, the gains from realisation of securities listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange or publicly held securities approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC);
These other tax handles were reviewed downwards
- Reduce special petroleum tax rate from 17.5% to 15%
- Reduce National Electrification Scheme Levy from 5% to 3%
- Reduce Public Lighting Levy from 5% to 2%
- Replace the 17.5 VAT/NHIL rate with a flat rate of 3% for traders; and
- Implement tax credits and other incentives for businesses that hire young graduates
Fig 1 – Screenshot of extract on taxes in 2017 budget
From the above, it is clear that only nine (9) taxes were outrightly abolished. A process was initiated to remove another while a tax exemption was also made in respect of gains from realisation of securities listed on the GSE.
Four other taxes were reviewed. This means in total only 15 taxes were mentioned in the 2017 budget.
Media reports also captured the issue of abolished taxes with most of them alluding to the scrapping of nine and in some cases 11 and not 17 taxes. (here, here, here.)
Ken Ofori-Atta, the former Minister for Finance also stated in a June 2018 interview with the BBC that the number of taxes the government abolished was about 14. In the 2018 budget statement, under the Tax Incentives section, Ofori-Atta said the government had abolished eight (8) taxes and reduced five others.
Fig 2 – Screenshot of extract on taxes in 2018 budget
When we reached out to him on the claim, he said: “I had stated reduced or abolished in the interview. If at some point I said removed instead of reduced does that warrant a fact check to say it was a lie? I think you can elevate this and do proper studies on more serious matters.
“I have always talked about reduced or abolished. That is what is in the budget I referred to,” he added.
Verdict
The claim that the NPP abolished 17 taxes in 2017 is False.
NOTE: The claim by Dr Amin Adam was collected using the Full Fact AI platform
This report has been amended to reflect the reaction of Dr. Gideon Boako.
