People should be able to keep money electronically, Ken Ashigbey
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, has cautioned the government against the repercussions of the passage of the E-Levy.
According to him, if people continue to withdraw monies from their wallets to avoid the payment of the levy, the purpose of its implementation will be defeated.
He stated that government should however devise means to discourage panic withdrawals to stop the decrease in electronic transactions as has been the case since news of the implementation of the E-Levy arose.
He spoke on JoyNews’ Newsfile saying cashouts should be taxed to encourage people to keep monies in their mobile wallets instead of withdrawing for transactions.
“We need to bear that in mind, that in as much as the government wants to generate some revenue, the alternative and the enemy which is cash, still exists and it’s the thing that a lot of people know and it’s the thing that people will fall back to, naturally. So how do we do all of this, if even we agree to do it, how do we do it in such a way that we don’t mitigate it?"
“Example of the Congo is a great one because cash-out is the thing we want to disincentivize, so when you see the Vice President talk about QR code and makes the example of the waakye person where you’re using a QR code to purchase it, it’s because when the money gets into the wallet, people should be able to keep it in the wallet, not just go cash it out and still be able to use it."
“Because what that does is that it enhances traceability, it enhances the information that the monetary policy people and the fiscal policy people can get to aid their planning,” he said.
He stated however that the exemption of mobile money merchants from the E-Levy is a laudable move.
“At the end of the day, when the merchant [makes a transaction], you know that this is a merchant SIM, then all transactions that are on that particular merchant SIM are turnover for the person.
“The person will just have to put his cost for you to determine the profit the person has made and then you can apply corporate income tax which is definitely more than 1.5% and then be able to then tax at the point of the profit not production,” he said.
Ken Ashigbey is CEO of Telecoms Chamber