Digital economy is the biggest in the country; it's not had any taxation at all – Akufo-Addo justifies E-levy
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Loading... - Sarah Kwaka
- 05 Apr 2022
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President Akuf- Addo has justified the imposition of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy).
He emphasised that it has become necessary to tax the mobile money industry.
The tax, which has been opposed by sections of the public with some describing it as an obnoxious tax, was passed last week by Parliament.
Speaking to Peter Okwoche of the BBC’s Focus on Africa show, on Monday, the President dismissed suggestions the levy will further impoverish the poor in the country.
“There are experts in government as well and we think it [E-levy] is necessary and that’s the reason why we introduced it. We are talking about taxing an industry and transactions where there are a lot of values being created and we also want to bring those values into government coffers.
“The digital economy is emerging, it’s the biggest economy in the country and for a long period it’s not had any taxation at all and so it is important that they also come into the tax net. Our country is one of the lowest tax to GDP ratios of any country in West Africa and of equivalent economy. I don’t know any group of people, especially businesses when taxes are brought to them they like it,” President Akufo-Addo said.
President Akufo-Addo maintained that the current woes of the country’s economy are due to the economic disruptions in the past two years caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the fundamentals of the economy are strong such that even in hard times of the global economy in 2020, Ghana still recorded positive economic growth.
The President also dismissed comparisons of Ghana’s economic figures with that of the western world. Read More...
