E-levy, betting tax: Bawumia had different ideas, ‘he didn’t run the show’ – Dr. Assibey Yeboah

The Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) manifesto sub-committee on the economy, Dr. Assibey Yeboah, has absolved Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia of blame for the passage of tax policies such as the Electronic Transaction Levy (e-levy) and betting tax, which stirred controversy after their introduction.

Dr. Bawumia, as head of the Economic Management Team, has been held accountable by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for worsening the plight of Ghanaians through the introduction of these taxes, despite the NPP government’s earlier assurance of a shift from taxation to production.

In an interview with the media, Dr. Assibey Yeboah affirmed that although Dr. Bawumia is part of the incumbent government and supports its collective decisions, he had expressed reservations about the implementation of these two tax measures.

According to him, the Vice President’s position could not prevail since his role is to support the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, who has the sole mandate to assent to the bills passed into law. He reiterated that Dr. Bawumia’s intention to abolish these tax policies reflects his independent views on how to manage the country’s tax system.

“Dr. Bawumia has been part of the government. In this manifesto, he said he would abolish the e-levy, he said he would abolish the betting tax, he didn’t run the show so there are things in the manifesto that run contrary to what this government is doing. So if I have divergent views and I air them is it criticising the government? No,” he stated.

He further explained that members of the ruling party are not barred from sharing opposing views on matters that have majority approval.

“I advised the government to approach the IMF early on, and it eventually did. I also predicted that the e-levy wouldn’t achieve its revenue targets, and we’ve seen it fail. I am an economist, and a good one at that, so if I have strong views on a matter, I will speak up even if I’m part of the NPP. That’s how we build a nation.”

Source: tigpost