Mr. John Ampontuah Kumah, Deputy Minister for Finance, has denied claims that the electronic transaction levy (e-levy) is going to be used by government as collateral to access additional loans.
“It is not true that the government is going to collateralize e-levy and all that, we are going to have enough revenues to be able to properly deal with the country’s development challenges, for example, to pay contractors working on our roads,” he stated.
Speaking to journalists in Kumasi, Mr Kumah described those assertions as lies and malicious propaganda being peddled by people opposed to the introduction of the levy to create disaffection for the government.
The Deputy Minister said the e-levy was an innovative fiscal policy to help generate adequate local revenue to prosecute the development agenda of the country.
He said the government needed sustainable revenue generation measures to get funds to construct roads, build schools, hospitals, bridges and others, to help bridge the huge infrastructural gap.
Mr Kumah, therefore, called on Ghanaians to support the e-levy to help the government embark on massive road construction and other infrastructural development in the country.
The e-levy seeks to impose a 1.75 per cent levy on some electronic transactions such as mobile money transfers from accounts on one same Electronic Money Issuers (EMI), Mobile Money transfers from accounts on one EMI to a recipient on another EMI and transfers from bank accounts to mobile money accounts.
Also transfers from mobile money accounts to bank accounts and bank transfers originating from a bank account belonging to an individual will also attract the levy.
However, the announcement of the policy in the 2022 budget by the Finance Minister, had met stiff opposition, especially from the Minority in Parliament, and other groups and individuals.
They argue that the new tax policy if allowed to be implemented will bring untold hardships on Ghanaians who are already suffering severe economic hardships.
Source: GNA