The Member of Parliament (MP) for Kpando Constituency in the Volta Region, Della Sowah, has insisted that the passage of the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) will inflict hardships on the citizenry.
She said the economy was not in good shape with goods and services increasing on daily basis which had become unbearable for the ordinary Ghanaian.
Madam Sowah was worried about the motivation behind the Majority in Parliament’sresolve to use every means possible to pass into law the E-Levy which had dire consequences on businesses.
“Why will they do everything possible to pass such a controversial levy into law when citizens are reeling under hardships only to inflict hardships and pain to make the economy tough for us,” she quizzed.
Speaking to Ghanaian Times, Madam Sowah indicated that the Majority had been doing everything possible to reduce the numbers of the Minority in Parliament and even to the extent of coercing some of her colleagues in the Majority to be in Parliament at all cost, just to pass the levy and impose pain and hardships on Ghanaians.
“It is surprising that after failure of the government to make good use of numerous obnoxious taxes, levies and borrowed funds, it is making it look as though only the E-Levy holds the key to the country’s progress, growth and development.
“I maintain that the E-Levy is backward and should be resisted by every Ghanaian until the right thing is done by seriously tackling corruption which is destroying the future of the country and also reduce profligate spending to cushion the economy.
“The government has received a lot of monies in the past which is more than what the E-Levy will accrue, so why this over-reliance on this tax because
those in the informal sector are also paying some form of tax on fuel prices, goods and services including Value Added Tax, National Health Insurance levy, and tourism levy among others,” Madam Sowah intimated.
She asked the government to find better ways of addressing the cedi depreciation, high fuel prices, high import duties, skyrocketing of prices of goods and services among others crippling the economy.
FROM EDEM MENSAH-TSOTORME, KPANDO
