The Upper East Regional Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Mr. Anthony Namoo has revealed, that members of the opposition National Democratic Congress are kicking against the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy because their thinking is that with the E-Levy, their chances of coming to power will be terminated. Apexnewsgh.com report.
According to the Upper East Regional Chairman who spoke to Apexnews Ghana on Wednesday, December 15, 2021, in an exclusive interview, the Minority mindset is that, “…if we get money with no interest that should mean that their chances of coming to power will be terminated. That’s why they are all over the place making it look as if the E-Levy is going to take money from everybody whether you are working or not. The E-Levy has a minimum threshold of Ghc 100.00”.
He said, “It costs money to put a platform for this to take place and you would also know that this has come about and there is a lot of fraud that goes on despite how it has made it easy for money to be circulated across the country. Some unscrupulous Ghanaians and of course some other people maybe not necessarily Ghanaians have also made it a point to make the system by defrauding the system because day in and out you cases in court and police station on of these issues”.
“So, the E-levy was, first of all, brought about to as it were to make sure we make enough money to be able to finance cyber security to prevent fraud and all that. And of course, been tax is also for development and it has been said time and again that, taxation is the price we pay for civilization and therefore if we lived in a society whereby there is a rule of law, there are roads that we can pass, there are securities to protect us, it doesn’t come cheap is the price we pay for civilization. So, the E-Levy which was pegged at 1.75% is to ensure that government gets money in order to finance developmental challenges of our time”. He stressed
However, Mr. Namoo believes the 1.75 threshold is reasonably good for the country, because the money if collected, isn’t going anywhere else but rather going to be used for the development of the country Ghana.
He added, “that before the E-Levy was introduced, a research was conducted and 40% of people did send under Ghc 100.00 and below and even some send as low as Ghc10.00. So, over 40 percent of those who send money are within the Ghc 100.00 and below. And in other words, you can only be taxed if you are sending anything beyond Ghc 100.00.
So, I think the 1.75 threshold is very reasonable for us as a country”.
However, responding to the Minority critics, Mr. Namoo said, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) needs to come back again because, during their time, they introduce a financial service tax of 17.5% which was not only directed at the bank but to anything concerning monetary services.
“Why would 1.75 which is far also 100% below what they have put be an issue?
Let’s have the hope that the resources will be used judiciously, I think that should be the key thing.
Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen
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