‘Where does the money go?’ – Joselyn Dumas queries government over E-levy

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Joselyn Dumas

Ghanaian television host and actress Joselyn Dumas has added her voice to the anti-electronic transaction levy popularly known as the e-levy campaign asking the government to be accountable to the Ghanaian people.

It will be recalled that on 17th November 2021, the Minister for Finance announced during the presentation of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government to the Parliament of Ghana, said the introduction of an “Electronic Transaction Levy” or “E-Levy” of 1.75 per cent will be on electronic transactions above GHs 100 (US$16) per day.

The initiative was expected to take effect from 1st February 2022. The levy when implemented will be applied to mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments, and inward remittances and all charges will be borne by the sender except in the case of inward remittances where the charge will be borne by the recipient.

According to the Finance Minister, the country’s total digital transactions for 2020 were estimated to be over GH¢500 billion (about US$81 billion) compared to GH¢78 billion (US$12.5 billion) in 2016. As a result, the Government is projecting to rake in tax revenue of about GH¢6.96 billion (US$1.1 billion) in 2022, and about GH¢26.90 billion (US$4.5 billion) from 2023 to 2025 after the implementation of the electronic transaction levy to help widen the tax net and rope in the informal sector.

However, this announcement has led to different reactions from the industry’s stakeholders, with some of them supporting the tax introduction as a way to collect public revenues while others criticizing saying it will have a negative impact on digital payments.

Many analysts, citizens and celebrities have said that the government needs to explore multiple sources of tax revenue than target a big source of its revenue from taxing electronic transactions.

The latest to join the trail after Shatta Wale, Sarkodie, Diana Hamilton, in a tweet is Joselyn Dumas. She tweeted “We’re being taxed for so many things like utility bills, goods and services, company operations (GRA) etc… So, where does the money go? Yet we owe. Then the #E-levy?… in such obviously hard times?”

Meanwhile, the government is holding press conferences across the country to clarify why Ghanaians must buy into the E-levy idea. The latest was held yesterday Thursday, February 10, 2022, at Tamale.

Source: Richard Mensah Adonu | Join our Telegram Group

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