Executive Director of Policy think tank Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI), Peter Bismark Kwofie, has described the controversial E-Levy as a legal theft.
He believes the move is a pick picketing tax which the government wants to impose on electronic transaction users.
Comparing some countries that have implemented the E-levy, he wondered why some have adopted the levy just to fleece their citizens.
In a brief opinion, he wrote: “It looks the tax thresholds of E-Levy in some African countries I have studied depend or determined by x population having Mobile money accounts out of the total population.
Tanzania has the lowest E-levy tax (0.1%) of a total of 33 million mobile money account holders. It’s followed by Uganda with 0.5% of 27 million Mobile money account holders.
Ghana’s Mobile money account holders is 12 million with 1.7% E-levy tax and Zimbabwe’s E-Levy tax threshold is 2% with 9.4 million account holders.
Cameroon however, has E-Levy tax of 0.2% with 19.5 million MoMo holders. That’s exceptional in this case.
In whichever way, E-Levy is a pickpocketing tax. A legal theft.”
Meanwhile, the government will on Thursday, January 27, 2022, hold a town mall meeting on the controversial Electronic Transactions Levy (E-levy).
The town hall meeting according to the government is to explain the importance of the E-levy as well as take feedback and inputs from relevant stakeholders on the levy.
This would be the first in a series of such engagements to educate the public on the E-levy.
According to the government, the feedback from the town hall meeting will inform it on the implementation of the levy.
The town hall meeting will feature Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister for Communication and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, and Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin.
Also, to be in attendance at the forums will be sector-specific Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other relevant industry stakeholders.
The Town Hall Meeting is being organised by the Ministry of Information.
It will be live on various television networks in the country as well as the Ministry’s social media pages.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
