E-Levy Is ‘Super Regressive;’ It Will Impose Unbearable Hardship On Ghanaians –Isaac Adjei Mensah
The Member of Parliament for Wassa East, Hon Isaac Adjei Mensah, has reiterated concerns made by the Minority on the government’s proposed 1.75% tax on all electronic financial transactions.
According to him, the levy is regressive and would compound the suffering of the masses.
“This is a super regressive tax that will impose unbearable hardship, pain, and suffering on poor Ghanaians. We are aware that most traders and ordinary Ghanaians use Mobile money wallet as savings account, therefore, any attempt to impose a tax on mobile money transactions will be a tax on savings, a disincentive to save, which should never be encouraged,”
“ I beg to say that this e-levy will introduce more inefficiencies in the Ghanaian economy than ever.” Hon Isaac Adjei Mensah exclusively told Kingdom FM 107.7
Hon Isaac Adjei Mensah also took on the government, insisting that the Ghanaian economy needs help.
He thus urged the government to seek external help to address the country’s economic challenges.
“We need to make difficult choices in treating this economic malaise. A choice to either treat the illness ourselves with local medication (homegrown policies) or seek the advice of an external medical expert (visit the hospital, IMF). However, the most critical issue is the right medication and the right dosage… If care is not taken, Ghana will be going straight into the Highly Intensive Care Unit (HICU).”
“I would also urge Mr. Minister [of Finance], to ignore the politics and save Ghana by seeking external help through the G20s Common Framework beyond the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) in dealing with our debt overhang,” he added.
Hon Isaac Adjei Mensah argued that the directive could affect the prices of goods and services in the country.
“The government proposes to reintroduce the full benchmark values and increase all public sector service fees and charges by15%. This will be inflationary. These proposed policy measures could increase prices of goods and services by at least 25% – 30%, and further increase the already high cost of living, rising unemployment, and poor economic growth.”
