Momo services to be affected by E-Levy
E-Levy smarter than Property Tax - Prof Atuguba
The Dean of the University of Ghana School of Law, Prof. Raymond Atuguba, has explained that while there continues to be a widespread rejection of the controversial Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) being introduced by the government, the bill is actually a smart and timely decision.
He said that the ability for the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to identify such a tax in such a time when the entire world is going through economic turmoil due to the novel Coronavirus, is something that should be commended.
“They did a very good job of identifying exactly at this critical moment of economic collapse, the one tax that can save us. That you can’t take from them. Like Kwesi Botchwey identified during the Gulf War, when fuel prices went up, that just by putting small tax on fuel, he’ll weed off a lot of money, Ken Ofori-Atta has discovered that in COVID times, just by putting small tax on Momo, he would rake in billions in dollars,” he explained.
Speaking during a Lecture on a Reviewed 1992 Constitution in Accra, the law professor added that the E-Levy is an easier, more effective tax for the government in such a time and for them to have thought about it is commendable.
“If you look at the size of the tax that will come in, the ease of collection, the reduced cost of collection, it must be E-Levy. Property Tax, it will take you 10 years to find the real owner of the building at Lands Department before you then issue the tax, meanwhile we needed the money right now,” he explained.
In the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy that was presented to parliament by the government, it introduced what was to be known as a 1.75% Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) that would affect digital transactions including Mobile Money services.
The bill has since been through a number of procedures in parliament but is yet to be re-laid for actual deliberations that could lead to its passage.
