Okraku-Mantey encourages Ghanaians to pay tax
E-Levy passed, evokes reactions
The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mark Okraku-Mantey, has tasked the government to consider taxing online shops as well as creatives who sell on YouTube, iTunes, Bolt Food, Uber and other platforms.
He believes that this will help generate income to finance various projects across the country.
Just like the 1.05% Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy) which is expected to finance developmental projects in Ghana, online businesses should also be taxed, this is according to Mr Okraku-Mantey.
“My creative people are selling on YouTube, iTunes, Bolt Food, Uber, people are now buying clothes online, are they paying anything to the government? No. I think after the MOMO, we need to go heavily online to see what we can get from there.”
He made this statement in an interview on GTV where he argued that the government cannot develop the country if citizens do not pay taxes, adding that small businesses are overloaded with taxes. This has led to several businesses closing down or running at a loss due to the numerous taxes.
According to the government appointee who was once a music producer, it is only fair for the government to spread the taxes across all boards, including online businesses.
The Deputy Minister added that citizens who are against tax collection are the ones who mostly complain about the system not working.
“So I ask myself how do we fix these things that make you complain about what you do not contribute. Again, the small business enterprise comes up in a few years and they collapse because they are overloaded with some taxes so why don’t we expand the scope to help reduce the corporate Ghana of taxes so we can distribute it such that you don’t overload the few who have agreed to pay for it,” he said.
Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mark Okraku Mantey