E-levy; Gov’t Attempt To Steal From Us- Amaliba Defines

Head of Legal team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Abraham Amaliba has defined the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-levy) as an attempt by the Akufo-Addo led government to loot the purse of the citizenry.

According to the lawyer, the definition is based on the fact that none of the principles for taxation supports the E-levy government is seeking to introduce.

He notes that the E-levy is not a tax.

“The E-levy is a tax that I will describe as an attempt by government to steal monies belonging to citizens. It is not a tax.

“There are principles of tax that it must be equitable. This tax for instance, is not equitable. Imagine we are paid our salaries and you decide to put your money on your physical wallet but I decide to put mine on my e-wallet. When we go to the chop bar and you are taking money to pay, there is no tax but when I decide to pay from my e-wallet, I will be charged, why? So it’s not equitable, it flies in the face of the principle that we all know to govern taxation”, he stated in an interview on TV3 New Day.

Lawyer Amaliba holds that the sort of the tax is not known.

“Secondly, we don’t know where to place this tax. Is it a gift tax, is it an income tax? You can’t tell. You can’t tax people’s capital, you can’t tax monies that have already been taxed, that’s stealing. And that’s why I describe it as an attempt to steal”, he explained.

He indicated that the policy is opposed by some members of the ruling party.

But the Deputy Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kamaal Deen Abdulai noted that the convenience that comes with electronic transactions cannot be compared to the 1.75% levy the government seeks to impose on it.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini