A Development Economist with the University for Development Studies (UDS) Dr. Michael Ayamga-Adongo has cautioned the government not to take Ghanaians for granted by their way of thinking that Ghanaians do not understand the meaning of the Electronic levy charge which has so far received some level of backlash from some set of Ghanaians especially the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The Minister echoed that the time has come for citizens to share the burden in the development of the country with the Government by paying that tax.
Mr. Ofori Atta insisted that the e-levy would help increase revenue as the country moved into an e-commerce economy, and invest such revenues into debt sustainability, infrastructure development and youth entrepreneurship.
“What I was really expecting Parliament was to say, we’re going to get 6.9 billion from this new tax revenue measure. So how then do you Finance Minister report to me Parliament on a quarterly basis on the uses of the fund and its application so that we move on,” he stated.
Meanwhile, touching on the concerns by some people that the 1.75 percent was high, Mr. Ofori-Atta, explained that the Government had engaged telecommunication operators to accept a 0.25 percent absorption to cushion Ghanaians.
“You go to the issue of 1.75 percent e-levy and people will say that’s too high even though we exempted transfers of less than a 100 cedis. The arguments were coming ‘fast and furious and we had to listen and reassess that in terms of the impact of the 1.75 percent. We were able to come down by 0.25 percent by the telcos, which means that the impact will go down for the average Ghanaian,” he said.
“We will still be able to retain revenues needed for these three critical areas of debt sustainability, infrastructure build-up and ensuring that our YouStart programme becomes a standard in our socio-economic development.” He pointed
Mr. Ofori-Atta said this at the closing ceremony of the 73rd University of Ghana Annual New Year School and Conference in Accra on Wednesday.
