The Peoples’ National Congress (PNC), has stated that it is not opposed to the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) but the charge should have been further reduced.
It said the 1.5 per cent on mobile money transactions was substantial and the position of the party was, the government should have reduced the charges to 1 per cent or even 0.75 per cent.
‘We agree that the E-Levy is a necessary evil, we know the economy and the problems and challenges we are facing, we were never against paying and now that it has been passed, we want the government to put the monies accrued to good use,” the party noted.
Janet Nabla, the General Secretary of the PNC, observed that the citizenry were opposed to the levy because they complained they had not seen the impact of other taxes collected by the government.
According to her, although the party supports the introduction of the E-Levy, the government should have considered its burden on Ghanaians and reduced the tax to 0.75 per cent instead of the 1.5 per cent.
Despite a Minority walkout on March 29, 2022, Parliament approved the controversial bill and the tax will introduce 1.5 per cent charge on electronic money transfers and the government claims it will help raise enough revenue to be used to address the problems of unemployment and high public debt.
The levy, which was amended from 1.75 per cent to 1.5 per cent, will be a tax on electronic transactions, which includes mobile money payments and the charge will apply to electronic transactions that are more than GH¢100 on a daily basis.
Critics of the proposal have warned that this new levy will negatively impact the Fintech space, as well as hurt low income people and those outside the formal banking sector.
However, three members of the Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament including its leader, Haruna Iddrisu, have filed a suit at the Supreme Court to challenge the passage of the levy which was done in their absence after they boycotted proceedings and they maintained that the House did not have the numbers to pass the levy. –citinewsroom.com
