Kofi Bentil clarifies Bawumia's tax amnesty proposal

Ghanaian

Kofi Bentil, Senior Vice President of IMANI Africa, has addressed the debate surrounding Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia's pledge of a "clean slate" for taxes in 2025 if elected President.

Dr. Bawumia had announced plans for a "tax amnesty" during an engagement with the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, aiming to introduce a new tax regime featuring a

Read full article"flat tax system" to enhance Ghana's competitiveness.

However, his proposal faced criticism, with some questioning the feasibility of simply "forgiving" taxes given the country's reliance on tax revenues.

In a Facebook post on March 22, Kofi Bentil clarifies the distinction between a "tax amnesty" and "tax forgiveness."

He explains that a tax waiver involves the government waiving or not collecting a tax owed by the taxpayer, reducing or eliminating the tax liability while maintaining the taxpayer's legal responsibility. On the other hand, tax forgiveness entails the government canceling a tax debt entirely, extinguishing the tax liability and relieving the taxpayer of any legal obligation to pay.

With a tax waiver, the waived tax amount remains recorded as owed but unpaid, providing temporary relief, whereas tax forgiveness permanently removes the forgiven tax amount from the taxpayer's records, canceling the tax debt obligation entirely.