E-Levy Will Be A Permanent Tax – John Kumah

The Deputy Minister for Finance, John Kumah, has said the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) is not going to be a temporal revenue generation measure.

According to him, the government has removed five different taxes such as the road toll, tax on local fabric, goods processing, and export among others to make way for E-levy.
“We don’t anticipate E-levy to be temporary, because of industrialization and the fourth development paradigm of the world. You know we have moved from various areas and we are now in the digital age. Going forward, the world is going to be more digital than the normal economic arrangement that we know.

“Today, if I want to have breakfast I don’t have to walk to any Walmart, all I need to do is to send them WhatsApp or give them a phone, choose the menu on my phone and send them MoMo. Then before I know the food is delivered to my location. That is where the world is going,” the Deputy Minister told Francis Abban on Morning Starr Tuesday.

He continued “That is where economic activity is changing to and if you are a government you quickly have to change your tax handle to reflect the needed changes and the new paradigm of the economy.

Otherwise, you will sit there and there would be nothing for you to manage the country with. So we don’t anticipate E-levy to be temporarily arranged because the world is going digital and we believe more economic activities are going forward.”

However, the Ranking Member for the Mines and Energy Committee in Parliament, John Abdulai Jinapor has stated that the government is on a deceptive agenda on the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy).

According to him, the government and the Majority in Parliament have failed to engage anybody in Parliament and yet want to get its policies and programs through.

“For almost a month now the Majority in Parliament has not engaged anybody in Parliament. All that the NPP Majority in Parliament has been engaged in is consistent press conferences. How can you bring consensus alone? The NPP alone cannot be the only source of knowledge. At least if not anything the abysmal record of the NPP tells you that the NPP cannot know everything in this world. So they should listen,” he advised.

Mr. Jinapor made these statements when addressing the Town-Hall Meeting organized by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Kumasi on Monday, 24th January 2022.

The Member of Parliament for Yapei Kusawgu Constituency said the government must stop throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians that without the E-levy no government business can be rolled out.

Source: Starr FM