Ghanaians rejects E-Levy
Govt organizing townhall meetings on E-Levy
The Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has conceded that the government may have rushed the introduction of the controversial Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy).
He explained that it has taken them hindsight to come to the realization that many people are against the bill.
The MP for Suame also said that before the introduction of the E-Levy, the government expected some level of rejection to it, just as is the case in many economies, but this one turned out a little more differently.
“You see the Finance Minister, for instance, going to organize townhall meetings in various regional capitals. Maybe, we underestimated the resistance. In any human institution, people will not come out willingly to embrace the imposition of taxes. So, we thought that yes, there’d be some resistance being a new tax; a new levy we’re going to introduce but maybe we underestimated the strength of the resistance,” he said in a video shared on Twitter.
Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu further stated that the ongoing townhall meetings across the country, as well as efforts being made by Members of Parliament on the New Patriotic Party side, could have preceded the introduction of the bill to Ghanaians.
“So, maybe what we are doing now, and I know my colleagues; some of them are trying to explain things to their constituents. With hindsight, maybe this ought to have preceded the introduction of the levy, perhaps, next time, we’ll do better,” he said.
The government has provided several reasons for which it intends to go all the way in getting the E-Levy passed into law in the country but the Minority in Parliament, backed by majority of Ghanaians, have expressed their oppositions to it.
As of now, the bill is yet to be re-presented to parliament for deliberations that will lead to its passage.
Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu is the Majority Leader in Parliament