E-Levy: Ghana is not Uganda or UK – Ursula defends her 10% UK digital tax comments

Govt holds Townhall Meeting on the E-Levy

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful claims UK has a digital tax of up to 10%

Communications minister calls out fact-checkers over her 10% UK digital tax

The Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has defended the comments she made at the Townhall Meeting on the E-Levy at Koforidua.

At the meeting, the minister claimed that the 1.75% Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) being introduced by the government in the country was a better version of other examples in other parts of the world like the United Kingdom.

"E-levy is being introduced at the lowest rate for any tax in Ghana, comparatively at 1.75%. Less than 2%. In other countries, digital taxes are being introduced at the rate of up to 10%, and they're paying. That's the UK," she said.

But a GhanaWeb FactCheck concluded that she lied.

In what appears to be a reply to the FactCheck, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful made a post on her Facebook page, giving her interpretations of what the Digital Services Tax (DST) in the UK is.

“Digital Services Tax (DST) means a tax or levy imposed on any service provided through digital means, by or on a digital platform, application or infrastructure. It’s an emerging area and Ghana is also contributing to the body of knowledge in this sector with our Communications Service Tax, which was one of the first to be introduced, and now the e-Levy,” she wrote.

Urging that the conversation in Ghana is done in a way that charts a unique levying system for the country, she said that her comments were about a range and not a specific figure.

“Ghana is not Uganda or UK so please let’s chart our own course, learning from best practices and modifying it to suit our own purposes.

“‘….Up to 10%´ means anything between 0-10%. It does not mean 10%. The UK’s 2% DST falls within this range. So who is lying or ignorant ????? Will the fact checkers, commentators and hangers on be gracious enough to admit that they got it wrong AGAIN ?? I doubt it so not holding my breadth,” she wrote.

See her posts below: