Reverend Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, the former General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, has urged the government to temporarily suspend the implementation of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E- Levy) Bill due to the current impasse in Parliament over the bill.
According to him, “this is necessary, given the current impasse in Parliament and also because the issues surrounding the levy are dividing the citizenry which is not healthy so it has to be suspended for the government to properly engage, sensitise and educate Ghanaians about the need for it before bringing it back”.
Rev. Dr Opuni-Frimpong noted that when the government introduced the Value Added Tax (VAT), the nation was up in arms against it and during that period, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was in opposition and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was in government.
He said what the NDC did better during that period was that, due to the opposition to the VAT, the government temporarily suspended its implementation and engaged citizens to understand the need for it before bringing it back because taxes were good and would help the country accelerate growth and develop.
However, Rev. Dr Opuni-Frimpong explained that the government must take its time to help the citizenry understand the need for it since countries across the world developed through taxes and the payment of taxes are good.
An online poll conducted to ascertain whether Ghanaians support the implementation of the E-Levy has shown that over 91 percent of respondents do not support the passage of the E-Levy bill.
In all, 38,220 took part in the survey out of which 35,009 people representing over 91 percent of the respondents said they do not support the E-Levy however, 2938 people, representing seven percent of the respondents said they support the levy.
The government is currently conducting town hall meetings across the country to explain to Ghanaians the importance of the levy. –ghanaweb.com
