MINORITY LEADER in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, insists that the E-Levy is a form of double taxation which is discriminatory as it will only apply to electronic transactions.
According to him, the money that will be subjected to the 1.75% tax by the government would have already been taxed from the employer before it goes to the employee.
“In fact its proper name is money tax. Ken Ofori-Atta is just lazily seeking to tax money. Anybody holding money and moving money must pay tax. Let anybody share with me this experience anywhere in the world. So, it is money tax – when you move money, pay, when you transact business, pay,” he stated.
Addressing journalists in Parliament on Wednesday after receiving a petition from a group calling itself Mobile Money Agents Association of Ghana (MMAAG), Mr. Iddrisu said “What Ghanaians must be prepared to accept painfully is that the cumulative incidents of an electronic money transfer is 3.75% and not 1.75%.”
“There is an existing 1% and a back-off cash-out of 1%. Even though there was no universality with Voda Cash, because of promotional purposes, was zero.”
“Those of you who know arithmetic like the Hon Ato Forson. When the Minister of Finance says that the telcos have agreed to reduce their share by 0.25% so those were zero, is there a minus 0.25% from their zero?” he asked.
The Tamale South MP thanked members of MMAAG for their courage to show where they stand regarding the E-Levy especially “on a matter that affects your livelihood and employment and affects many others outside, who have no voices to reach out to Parliament and to share their views to Parliament.”
According to him, that would affect Ghana’s quest for a digital economy.
“I am inspired further reading your text when I see the words particularly, page 3 where you say ‘This, we know, will impact us also’ as agents.”
“As you express it, it is not just mobile money agents but the fintechs, merchants and the electronic money ecosystem will stand to lose with the insensitivity of the Nana Akufo-Addo government,” he posited.
“I have heard very interesting stories in the last one week. And one which beats my imagination is to hear the Ministers of Finance and Information and also Members of Parliament of the NPP say without shame that the E-Levy will allow us to raise revenue to build infrastructure.”
“When the NDC, under John Dramani Mahama, initiated those VATs on financial services, was it to raise stones? It was to raise revenue for the purpose of development,” the Minority asserted.
“But all of a sudden, it is as if it is only them who know that revenue is used for infrastructure development. And now the argument has even shifted because the NDC thinks if they get money, they will develop Ghana,” he stated further.
He pledged the commitment of the Minority Caucus to convey the concerns of the petitioners to the bill and also the debate to the bill.
General Secretary of MMAAG, Evans Otumfuo, said as main capital investors in this digital finance, “We are much concerned about the intended astronomical rate of 1.75% proposed by the government through the Hon. Finance Minister on November 17, 2021.”
He stated that in the recent years, as a result of mobile money, more businesses have been established and become the main driver of economic activities in Ghana.
Source: Daily Guide
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
Joshau is a ***barred word***. In Ghana here, there is VAT of 17.5%. There is COVID-19 tax, there is pre-mix levy on all petroleum products, there is PSL but prices have never been stabilised.
Double salary man - Haruna who also does not want Canada MP to be prosecuted is back again for his alleged crimes. He should not be taken serious as he doesn't understand, not matter how hard you try to explain to him. All that Haruna Iddrissu wants is to satisfy his ego. E-levy will be passed so that we can pay for our economic development. God bless our homeland Ghana.
I do not think anybody is saying the e-levy is an ultimate solution to realizing revenue per se, but given our current circumstance of a massive overriding informal sector of the economy, the e-levy, through the virtues of modernity, technology, and digitalization, provides a conducive avenue to leapfrog formalization of the economy. And hence, enlarging our tax net so as to make taxation more inclusive. In the short term, this will provide us with immediate revenue to finance our long-term projects and infrastructure. Then, the previous experience of always running to the IMF for a bailout has become more of a vicious cycle than help. The disorder in the economy is a structural problem that dates back to our colonial times. We have been raw material producers for far too long to keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Therefore, we have to embrace modernity and be innovative in our approach to solving our problems. Along the side of building a strong, skilled industrial-producing economy. Thus, you have to see the e-levy along with other interventions wholistically. The vision and administration of Akufo-Addo are coherent, and we will do a lot of disservice to his good intentions if we play it down with püolitics.
Blame the NPP for letting go of ***barred word*** people like Haruna Iddrisu, a dishonorable MP who without shame took double salary for years and now has the gut and nerve to spew lies and deception to the Ghanaian populace. If his argument about taxing double is true then even in advanced and most developing countries people are taxed quadruple because every purchase, most transfers electronically, be it western union, monegram, etc comes with a tax. Mr Haruna, you’re supposed to know better and to educate the people and not to lie and deceive because of political propaganda. Ghanaians should beware of the ***barred word*** NDC
Talk is cheap... I remember those days when Kwasi Botwey lazily put up taxes on petrol and diesel during (P)NDC days in his budgets. These double salary NDC th!eves hiding in parliament as MPs are really annoying and irritating.
1. In Ontario, Canada. There's a provincial tax called (Hamonous) and it's 13% that is added to everything you buy from the shop. Suppose you see a pair of shoes that is priced at $100, you'd pay additional 13% on it so you'd end up paying for $113 at the cashier. Ghanaians complain too much but expect so much... Even if you go to the bank and exchange money from Canadian dollars to the US dollars, you'd be taxed 7% SO 1.75% IS A DROP IN THE OCEAN AND TELL GHANAIANS NOT TO THING OF COMING TO NORTH AMERICA BECAUSE TAXES IS WHAT MAKE THIS COUNTRY WORKED USA AND CANADA DO NOT BORROW TO PROVIDE FOR THEIR CITIZENS BUT RATHER THE CITIZENS PAY FOR THEIR DEVELOPMENT NO FREE LUNCH ANY WHERE IN THE WORLD LAZY GHANAIANS THE FREE DAYS ARE OVER LOOSERS. 2.