The main opposition National Democratic Congress’s Member of Parliament for Wa West Constituency in the Upper East Region has described the introduction of the 1. 75 percent Electronic Transactions Levy by the government in the 2022 budget statement presented to Parliament by the Finance Minister last Wednesday as an act of pair trawling targeted at “sweeping everything from the sea.”
Mr. Peter Lanchine Toobu gave this description to the new tax targeted at raking in some more revenues for the government on Accra-based Neat FM today, Monday, November 22, 2021.
He said the e-levy has the tendency of killing the digitalisation drive being championed by no other person than the Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
He maintained that this levy is a disservice to the country’s ambitions of achieving a cash-lite economy.
He said the e-levy will derail the ambitions of the police service of making armed robberies in the country a disincentive.
“The e-levy will make the activities of armed robberies boom as many people will be keeping their money at home if the levy is operationalized,” he said adding that people instead of keeping their money on their various Mobile Money accounts will now be keeping them at home.
“The e-levy will not motivate people to use the various digital platforms being introduced by the telecommunication companies in the country,” he stressed.
“Already Ghanaians are overtaxed and further introduction of indirect taxes such as the e-levy is like going fishing with a pair of trawlers.
The levy is a pair trawling exercise targeted at catching everything in the sea,” he emphasized.
He stressed that the levy will not serve the interest of the ordinary Ghanaian hence the Minority’s decision not to support the introduction of the levy.
Source: Classfmonline.com