Accra-Ghana, July 30, GNA – The Coalition of Small Business Owners (CSBO) has urged Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to suspend the taxes imposed on Lottery and Sports Betting companies and their customers.
This follows the announcement of 20 and 10 percent taxes on the revenue of Lottery/Sports Betting Companies and winnings respectively.
According to the convener of the group, Justice Ayeh Donkor, the lottery and sports betting taxes were undermining private sector growth and collapsing businesses.
A statement copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Sunday said in 2015, a withholding tax of 5 percent, under Act 896, was imposed on the winnings of a lottery.
In 2016, the Income Tax Amendment Act 907 exempted the first ¢2,592 while any excess winning above ¢2,592 was taxable at 5 per cent.
Mr Ayeh Donkor said “The NPP then in opposition promised Lotto Marketing Companies to remove those taxes and even restore the Retailer Commission to 25 per cent for the LMCS but has now failed to honour these promises.”
He explained that in 2017, the National Lottery Authority made a proposal to the Ministry of Finance for the scrapping of taxes as a way of attracting more mainstream operators and the taxes were subsequently removed.
However, in 2023, the Government re-introduced the taxes now at a new rate of 20 per cent on the company’s revenue and 10 percent on winnings respectively.
“In view of this, the group is calling on the government to suspend those taxes to allow business to flourish.”
