The Convention People’s Party (CPP) has raised concerns over the introduction and implementation of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) which took effect on May 1, 2022.
It said the introduction of the levy in the midst of economic hardships was ill-timed and insensitive to the plight of the citizenry.
The party said the government commenced the implementation of the controversial levy despite widespread condemnation of the tax policy however, it was reduced from 1.75 per cent to 1.5 per cent after several protests by the opposition political parties and some civil society organisations.
Sylvester Sarpong-Soprano, the Director of Communications for CPP, indicated that the party was against the E-Levy as it would further worsen the plight of Ghanaians saying “we feel that it is one thing creating jobs for citizens and imposing extra taxes on them, and another further burdening them when the government has been unable to create enough jobs.
“Ghanaians are distressed and it is unfair and insensitive of the government to force this cruel tax on us Ghanaians amidst hardships, besides, how do we expect to have any compassion for Ghanaians? The government has no idea what the ordinary Ghanaian is going through and the party is totally against the implementation of the levy,” Mr Sarpong-Soprano decried.
He indicated that the government had hoped to rake in about GH¢7.6 billion from the collection of the 1.5 per cent levy on mobile money and other electronic transactions, but the figure was revised downwards to about GH¢4 billion recently.
According to him, the levy was double taxation and counterproductive but the government had insisted that it was burden-sharing initiative adopted to shore up the country’s internal revenue instead of depending on foreign aid.
BY TIMES REPORTER
