Ken Ofori-Atta
Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Ken Ofori-Atta, has assured that the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) being introduced by government will offer the country enough revenue to sustain government’s flagship programmes and ensure accelerated development.
Speaking at a government Town Hall Meeting held to explain the E-Levy in Koforidua yesterday, Mr. Ofori-Atta said the levy will provide government with increased revenues to sustainably invest in key sectors of the Ghanaian economy and support government flagship programmes in entrepreneurship, youth employment and fund infrastructure projects.
“We must find a way to what they call burden sharing. So let’s dig deep in ourselves. Nobody likes taxes but if you look at our debt situation, we need the levy to raise our own money, to build the roads we are all looking for and fund all other key government programmes in entrepreneurship, youth employment, and infrastructure,” he said.
He said data shows that Ghana is behind its peers within the West African sub-region as far as tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio is concerned and the dwindling revenue streams are attributable to the slowdown in business activities occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic.
He said it was for this reason that the government through the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy introduced the E-Levy which the opposition NDC has vowed not to approve.
The minister said that whilst Ghana is doing below 15 per cent, countries in the sub-region like Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria are hovering around an average of 18 per cent, raising questions on whether the E-Levy is the appropriate tax measure to help government shore up its revenue inflows to fund its projects.
Mr. Ofori-Atta explained that the levy when passed will increase Ghana’s Tax to GDP Ratio from 13 per cent to 16 per cent, indicating that the proceeds from the levy will be used to support government programmes such as the YouStart and fund road projects.
He assured that the revenues accrued will be protected jealously to ensure that all Ghanaians benefit in terms of the infrastructure and other social interventions to be pushed.
The Town Hall Meeting was also attended by top government officials like Minister of Communications and Digitisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful; Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah; Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin; Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Kwame Acheampong among others.
Minister for Communications assured that there will be transparency and accountability in the application of revenues accrued from the E-Levy.
She said government intends to use the levy to better the lives of Ghanaians by investing into critical sectors of the economy such as youth employment and job creation.
“Government in its wisdom and after broad consultation has introduced a safety net for the poor and vulnerable whereby transactions less than GH¢100 are exempted from the E-Levy to ensure that they are not severely impacted. What we are bent on doing as government is to put the monies that accrue from the levy into good use and make sure at every point in time, Ghanaians know what we are using the monies for,” she said.
On his part, Mr. Afenyo-Markin emphasised that the levy provides Ghanaians with an opportunity to contribute to Ghana’s economic and infrastructural development.
He said the E-Levy will put government in a better position to provide for the needs of Ghanaians.