A former Minister of Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam
A former Minister of Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has insisted that his claim that the erstwhile administration did not implement the 10% Betting Tax holds.
According to him, his administration only implemented taxes on bet winnings and not on lottery winnings.
He emphasised that his assertions on the matter was accurate.
Amin Adam was quoted by myjoyonline.com to have said: “I did not err. What you just read are my words. I said that the Betting Tax they say they have abolished— qualified the word that — because the minister came to Parliament and said he’s going to abolish withholding tax on winnings from the lottery, otherwise known as Betting Tax as if to equate Betting Tax to winnings from the lottery.
“Meanwhile, in their manifesto, they said they were going to abolish a 10% withholding tax on bet winnings,” he said.
The former minister said the Betting Tax was in fact not implemented in the first place as portrayed by the finance minister in Parliament during the presentation of the 2025 Budget.
“That’s what I’m saying that it wasn’t implemented. And the minister came to Parliament and said that tax — otherwise known as Betting Tax. So, my point was that while he’s calling it Betting Tax, that tax has not been collected. We never implemented that,” he emphasised.
According to Dr Amin Adam, it was the withholding tax on bet winnings that was implemented, not the withholding tax on lottery winnings.
He argued that Dr Cassiel Ato Forson’s statement in Parliament led to confusion about which of the taxes were implemented.
“The withholding tax on winnings from betting was implemented, but the withholding tax on winnings from lotto was not implemented. So, when you come to Parliament and say, winnings from lotto, and I know that it wasn’t implemented, and then you call that Betting Tax, I was challenging him on that.
“That is why I said that the Betting Tax they say they have abolished — which is that Betting Tax? The winnings from the lotto, which he referred to as a Betting Tax, were not collected. And that is a fact,” he stressed.
SSD/AE
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