Popular Kumawood actor and musician Kwadwo Nkansah, professionally known as LilWin, has said he would have created jobs and increased the betting tax from 10% to 60% if he were president.
The Government of Ghana on August 8, 2023, introduced a new measure that will see a 10% tax applied to betting and lottery winnings. The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) outlined that this withholding tax will be automatically deducted at the point of payout for all betting, games, and lottery wins.
The new directive, however, faced a lot of backlash from the general public, especially the youth who accused the government of being insensitive to their plights.
Speaking in an interview on Kumasi-based radio station Silver FM, LilWin, when asked about his opinion on the tax, stated that if he were to be in power, he would increase it to about 60% while creating more than enough jobs for the youth.
“The betting tax is actually not a bad idea. If I were the president, I would create lots of jobs, to the extent that even the companies won’t be able to find workers. Then, I would increase the betting tax to 60% so if someone chooses not to work and prefers to stake bets, he would gain very little; so if he wins 100 cedis, he will gain only 40 cedis,” LilWin said.
The actor, however, acknowledged that due to the current economic situation in the country, the betting tax should have been low but gradually increased as and when things got better.
“Currently, we know there are no jobs, which pushes young men to go into betting. What I would do is, I would still set the betting tax, but set it very small, at about 2%, then I will slowly increase it to 5% then 10%. By then, there will be enough jobs for the boys,” he added.
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