Mahama vows to abolish Akufo-Addo's vehicle luxury tax

The ex-president, who is leading the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 presidential and parliamentary election, said the tax has brought untold hardship to Ghanaians.

The NDC flagbearer was speaking to some drivers during his road safety tour in Accra on Thursday.

He said: “Not too long ago, the government introduced the luxury vehicle tax. This tax was not well thought through before it was rolled out. They should have exempted all commercial vehicles.

"There are commercial vehicles without the yellow plates, but rather white plates yet they carry commercial goods. Once they exceed three litres, they are charged this luxury tax. This has brought untold hardship on some of the drivers especially those who work for the companies and others. ”

“Just recently, I heard that government has only been able to raise GHC 25million from the luxury tax if that is the case, then they should abolish it. If they don’t, we the NDC government will abolish it when we come into power.”

The Akufo-Addo administration recently collected some $4.1 million (GH¢21.3 million) from people who use luxury vehicles in the country.

The taxes were collected from individuals who use vehicles with engine capacities of 2.9 litres and above between. The money was taken from August and December last year, a provisional fiscal data on public finances for last year has shown.

The collected amount was below the $20 million (GH¢104 million) that was projected to be collected within the period.

The implementation of the vehicle luxury tax begun in August 2018 as a new policy to help raise more revenue for the government.

About the vehicle luxury tax

The vehicle luxury tax was introduced by the government in August 2018 as a new policy to help raise more revenue.

Vehicles with engine capacity of 2950 to 3549 Cubic Centimetres are required to pay $193.78 (GH¢1,000) while those with engines between 3,550 to 4049 cubic centimetres pay $290.68 (GH¢1,500).

Vehicles with engine capacities above 4049cc are to pay $387.57 (GH¢2,000).

The tax also affects vehicles of the listed capacities existing prior to the passage of the law.

Exempted from the levy are; tractors, ambulances, commercial vehicles that have the capacity to transport more than 10 persons and commercial vehicles for the transport of goods.