Hot SourceA Ghanaian tax scholar has taken a direct swipe at government’s tax policies, warning that the current regime is crippling families and undermining the institution of marriage.
Speaking at the Marriage Governance Conference in Accra on Tuesday, 19th August 2025, Ismail Ibn Ibrahim, an adjunct lecturer in Tax and Revenue Law at the GIMPA Law School, said bluntly that the country’s tax structure has become “unsustainable” for households.
Delivering a presentation under the theme “Lower Taxes and Marriage Incentives: A Government Approach to Supporting Marriage and Family Life,” he argued that financial pressure created by taxes—not infidelity or emotional breakdown—has become the most severe test of modern marriages in Ghana.
“The system is suffocating families,” he stated, stressing that the combination of income and consumption taxes has left little room for couples to breathe.
He explained that under the Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) system, workers face income tax rates starting from 20 percent, with little relief. Although some allowances exist for dependent spouses, children, mortgage interest, and education, their real value has remained stagnant despite years of inflation and soaring living costs.
“These so-called reliefs provide little real benefit,” he said, describing them as tokenistic measures that do not reflect economic reality.
Beyond income tax, Ghanaian families are further squeezed by multiple layers of consumption taxes: 15 percent VAT, 2.5 percent National Health Insurance Levy, 2.5 percent GETFund Levy, one percent COVID-19 Levy, and three percent VAT Flat Rate.
“These levies are unavoidable and steadily erode disposable income,” Ibn Ibrahim noted, warning that households are being drained on all fronts.
To ease the pressure, he urged government to periodically review personal reliefs to match economic conditions, exempt childcare essentials like baby diapers from VAT, reintroduce tax exemptions for gifts between spouses and relatives, permit joint tax filing for married couples, restore exemptions on capital gains from intra-family asset transfers, and expand reliefs to include Rent Relief, Disabled Child Relief, and Nominal Transportation Relief.
According to him, tax reform is not just an economic debate but a social imperative. “Government must begin to treat marriage as a public good worthy of state support,” he told the gathering, warning that without reforms, marriages will continue to buckle under financial strain.
The conference, organised by MarryRight Ghana, ended with a clear call: meaningful tax reform is now central to protecting families and preserving social stability.
The post Ibn Ibrahim slams harsh tax system, says Ghanaian marriages “suffocating under burden” appeared first on The Herald ghana.
