The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta has reiterated government’s will to put to good use and account for the E- Levy if passed by Parliament.
He made this commitment at a Town Hall meeting on the E-Levy in Ho, the Volta Region capital on Friday.
The Volta Region thus becomes the fifth region to have the Town Hall meeting aimed at engaging and explaining to the public the benefits of the levy. The maiden one was held in the Eastern Region.
The government delegation led by the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, included the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah; Dr Archibald Letsa, Volta Regional Minister; Mr John Peter Amewu, Minister of Railway Development, and Mr Puis Enam Hadzide Chief Executive Officer of National Youth Authority.
Mr Ofori Atta said “as a country we are collecting 12 to 13 per cent of revenue compared to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and all the other countries around us are doing 16 to 20 per cent and with this we are not doing well.”
He explained that the levy was not to make the people poorer, but to make sure that everybody was roped into the tax net.
“We therefore as a country need to find other ways internally to raise more revenue to pay interest on our debts, build our rail lines, improve our infrastructure and give employment to our youth.”
Giving the breakdown of revenue coming from the regions, he said Greater Accra gives 88 per cent, Ashanti, Western, Eastern regions 3 per cent and Volta Region 0.11 per cent.
“With this break down he explained one can begin to see the equity and the same time everybody is crying for infrastructure which is everybody’s right,” he stated.
The minister noted that the projected amount of GH¢7 billion was earmarked for E- Levy representing 10 per cent of the total revenue.
The Minister of Information in his remarks said this is a challenging moment all over the world where economies have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that “Ghana has not been left out and we need to find ways of generating revenue through taxes to sustain the economy.”
From Kafui Gati, Ho
