Prez Akufo-Addo: Experts In My Administration Sees E-levy Necessary

President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo says experts in his government see the Electronic Transfers Levy (E-levy) as necessary for the economy of Ghana to rebound.

He was reacting to the Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), John Kwakye’s submissions that the government should rather tackle loopholes in the tax system of Ghana which will help raise the country’s tax to GDP to 20%.

“We have experts in government as well and we think it (E-levy) is necessary… We are talking about taxing an industry and transactions where there are a lot of values being created and we want to also bring that value to government coffers. It’s not only Ghana that has something like a digital tax, many many many countries.”

Speaking in an interview on BBC’s Focus on Africa with Peter Okwoche, the President stated that the economic misfortunes will be turned into fortunes by 2023 with the help of the E-levy.

According to President Akufo-Addo, his government chose to tackle the digital sector due to its emergence as the biggest economy in the country but without any taxation so far.

“So it is important now that they also come into the net. Our country has one of the lowest tax to GDP ratios of any country in West Africa and of an equivalent economy. In the ECOWAS area today, the tax to GDP average is about 18%. Ghana is 13%.”

He added that “People never like taxes. I don’t know any group of people, especially businesses when taxes are brought to them, that like it.”

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini