Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chair and Member of Parliament for Atiwa East, Hon. Abena Osei Asare, has come down heavily on government, saying it failed to meet its revenue targets even though it introduced new taxes over the last year.
Giving her statement on the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review in Parliament, the PAC Chair said government had projected total revenue of GH¢268 billion for the year, with a first-half target of GH¢126 billion a target it failed to meet.
“The total revenue and grants amounted to GH¢268 billion and Government says half year it’s supposed to do a GH¢126 billion. We see a shortfall of close to GH¢2 billion,” she said.
This means government’s revenue for the first half stood at around GH¢124 billion. According to her, most of the shortfall came from Value Added Tax (VAT).
VAT is a tax placed on market activity essentially, how much people are buying and selling. Osei Asare said this points to a deeper problem: economic activity has slowed, and the shortfall reflects an economy that is not moving.
She said the VAT shortfall alone points to a GH¢2.3 billion decrease in revenue.
“VAT does not respond to the press conferences, the slogans and the yeeye,” she said, urging government to commit to concrete action.
“VAT responds to economic activities, and so far as economic activities are not going on, the economy is not truly moving,” she added.
She said government’s policy of introducing eight new taxes to boost revenue has not yielded positive results, as the economy remains in a weakened state.
“In 2025, there was a shortfall of revenue to the tune of GH¢5 billion. Upon the eight new taxes that the Government put together in 2025,” she said, admonishing government not to pat itself on the back, but to commit to its policies, including the release of funds for projects.