We’ll vote against E-Levy regressive - Minority affirms opposition to controversial tax

Government proposes 1.5 E-Levy

Minority opposes E-Levy

Finance minister moves motion for E-Levy passage

The minority in parliament have reaffirmed their opposition to the government’s proposed 1.5% Electronic Transactions Levy.

The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, at the commencement of parliament’s business on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, moved a motion for parliament to pass the E-Levy bill into law.

In moving the bill, the minister announced that the government had adjusted its projected revenue from the E-Levy downwards from the initial GH ¢6.9 billion.

But commenting on the minister’s motion on the floor, Ranking Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Dr Cassel Ato-Forson, described the proposed tax policy as regressive.

“Clearly, this tax is targeted at the poor. Apart from that, we know that most artisans use their Mobile Money wallets for the purposes of savings. Mr Speaker, you cannot tax savings. If you tax me, you are taxing savings. Mr Minister, you should be interested in people saving because it is very beneficial to the economy. Rather you are discouraging them from saving,” he stated.

Mr Ato Forson concluded his address by emphasizing that the minority remains opposed to the E-Levy.

“Let me conclude by saying that the NDC’s position is that; don’t tax MOMO, don’t tax MOMO, don’t tax MOMO. And we are going to vote against it,” he chanted, backed by his colleagues on the minority side.

On her part, however, Deputy Minister for Finance, Abena Osei Asare, who doubles as MP for Atiwa East, noted that the E-Levy is a necessity of a home-grown policy in revenue mobilization to support national development.

“Previously, many of our tax or revenue measures were being influenced by our development partners without considering the rigidities in our own economy. But this is a home-grown tax measure that we believe will go a long way.

“After having considered other equally important things that we need to consider on the economy, we believe that if this revenue measure is passed and implemented, it will go a long way to help us address certain issues that have come up as a result of the global crisis and domestic issues as well,” the deputy minister said.