E-Levy Important For Economic Recovery

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E-Levy Important For Economic Recovery –Dr John Kumah

The Member of Parliament of Ejisu, Dr. John Kumah said, the revenue to be accrued from the 1.75 percent Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) will help revive the economy faster.

He said the new Levy, which is estimated to accrue 33.86 billion Ghana cedis by 2025, would assist the government in their quest to provide and expand road infrastructure, support entrepreneurship drive, provide lasting solutions to youth unemployment, combat security threats and expand digital infrastructure.

The domestic tax mobilisation efforts of the country was way below its peers on the continent, he said this when addressing a press conference at the NPP headquarters in Accra last Friday.

He stated, "according to the world Bank, tax revenue to GDP in Ghana for 2019 was 12.2 percent, which is below Sub-Saharan Africa average of 16.5 percent. For South Africa, tax revenue to GDP is 26.7 percent, and Senegal is 16.4 percent. Certainly, the situation with tax mobilisation in Ghana requires urgent attention.

Aside from low revenues, Dr. Kumah said the government also faced gaping infrastructure needs across the various facets of the economy.

According to him, the mismatch between revenue generation and infrastructure needs was not sustainable if the country was to accelerate its economic transformation agenda within the shortest time.

In that regard, the E-Levy was expected to formalise transactions that took place behind closed doors.

The Minister gave an assurance to the the toll collectors that they would be reassigned to ensure that none of them lost their source of livelihood.

And the abolition of the road tolls would help reduce congestion at sections of tolled roads, free flow of vehicles and reduce travel time.

Source: Bonfil Akai

1 Comments

Kofi Asamoah,Snr , November 29, 2021

With all due respect, the E-levy is a bad idea: Politically unwise, economically doubtful to fulfill its purpose. Here is a country trying to go cashless, and instead of passing a law for the telcos to reduce the transaction costs the citizens incur, you are introducing more cost to deter people from continuing to use mobile money/ electronic transactions. Instead of effectively monitoring the telcos to ascertain exactly how much they are raking in from momo transactions, and taxing them (Telcos) accordingly, you are going to increase the burden on citizens. Recommendations: The gov't can find other sources of revenue: 1) Properly Monitor the Telcos and tax them on the cash they're raking in. Apart from the high momo transfer charges, high data and airtime prices, The telcos are charging interest on loans they're giving to users , and also selling insurance to them. 2) The gov't should use the Auditor General's report go after the billions of Cedis of revenue leakages. 3)Curtail the numerous tax exemptions, 4) Review concessions of the extraction sector, to get a fair, and respectable share of the billions of dollars that foreign entities are taking from OUR natural resources, 5) Gov't must cut its expenditure on the executive i.e, Stop buying fleets of gas- guzzling V8 Vehicles, fat cheques and benefits to gov't appointees. Why does a gov't appointee have to been given two vehicles plus all the other largesse 6) If the gov't wants Ghanaians to pay more taxes or tighten their belts, The gov't must stop the corruption and waste in the system. Leadership by example.

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