Haruna Iddrisu
MINORITY LEADER in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, insists that the E-Levy is a form of double taxation which is discriminatory as it will only apply to electronic transactions.
According to him, the money that will be subjected to the 1.75% tax by the government would have already been taxed from the employer before it goes to the employee.
“In fact its proper name is money tax. Ken Ofori-Atta is just lazily seeking to tax money. Anybody holding money and moving money must pay tax. Let anybody share with me this experience anywhere in the world. So, it is money tax – when you move money, pay, when you transact business, pay,” he stated.
Addressing journalists in Parliament on Wednesday after receiving a petition from a group calling itself Mobile Money Agents Association of Ghana (MMAAG), Mr. Iddrisu said “What Ghanaians must be prepared to accept painfully is that the cumulative incidents of an electronic money transfer is 3.75% and not 1.75%.”
“There is an existing 1% and a back-off cash-out of 1%. Even though there was no universality with Voda Cash, because of promotional purposes, was zero.”
“Those of you who know arithmetic like the Hon Ato Forson. When the Minister of Finance says that the telcos have agreed to reduce their share by 0.25% so those were zero, is there a minus 0.25% from their zero?” he asked.
The Tamale South MP thanked members of MMAAG for their courage to show where they stand regarding the E-Levy especially “on a matter that affects your livelihood and employment and affects many others outside, who have no voices to reach out to Parliament and to share their views to Parliament.”
According to him, that would affect Ghana’s quest for a digital economy.
“I am inspired further reading your text when I see the words particularly, page 3 where you say ‘This, we know, will impact us also’ as agents.”
“As you express it, it is not just mobile money agents but the fintechs, merchants and the electronic money ecosystem will stand to lose with the insensitivity of the Nana Akufo-Addo government,” he posited.
“I have heard very interesting stories in the last one week. And one which beats my imagination is to hear the Ministers of Finance and Information and also Members of Parliament of the NPP say without shame that the E-Levy will allow us to raise revenue to build infrastructure.”
“When the NDC, under John Dramani Mahama, initiated those VATs on financial services, was it to raise stones? It was to raise revenue for the purpose of development,” the Minority asserted.
“But all of a sudden, it is as if it is only them who know that revenue is used for infrastructure development. And now the argument has even shifted because the NDC thinks if they get money, they will develop Ghana,” he stated further.
He pledged the commitment of the Minority Caucus to convey the concerns of the petitioners to the bill and also the debate to the bill.
General Secretary of MMAAG, Evans Otumfuo, said as main capital investors in this digital finance, “We are much concerned about the intended astronomical rate of 1.75% proposed by the government through the Hon. Finance Minister on November 17, 2021.”
He stated that in the recent years, as a result of mobile money, more businesses have been established and become the main driver of economic activities in Ghana.
BY Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House