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Actress, Lydia Forson has contradicted Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko’s claim that Ghanaians do not want to pay taxes.
The leading member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in a social media rant, Monday, mentioned that less than GH¢60million out of GH¢600million expected E-Levy revenue had been realized two months after the implementation of the tax policy.
The politician said despite the huge expectations that birthed the idea of imposing a 1.5% levy on electronic transfers above GH¢100, the government has been able to realise only 10% of its expected revenue from the controversial E-Levy.
“After 5 months of stalemate and bashing, the e-levy, after implementation, is delivering only 10% of estimated revenues; our revenues remain very low as compared to the rest of the world; debt levels dangerously high, cedi, like most currencies, struggling against the US dollar,” he said.
“What options are open to government? The question should rather be: what option, if adopted, will re-inject investor confidence in our economy? Even if we find the $3-5 billion required, will that help? E-levy which was to have given us some 600m by now has done less than 60m,” Gabby added.
On the back of his assertion, some critics pointed out that the development was a justification that the E-Levy was obnoxious – the reason many Ghanaians opposed it prior to its approval and implementation.
Gabby, however, retorted that that narrative cannot be true.
“If the e-levy is so far not bringing in the estimated revenues, it does not mean it is a bad tax. It means Ghanaians simply do not want to pay taxes,” he argued in a tweet sighted by GhanaWeb.
Replying to the tweet, Lydia Forson, a fierce critic of the government, said it was erroneous for anyone to suggest that Ghanaians do not like paying taxes. She insisted that the low revenue was an indication that Ghanaians opposed the E-Levy and are protesting because the government failed to listen to their plights.
She said: “WRONG! Stop discrediting all the taxes Ghanaians have paid!! This is a rip off tax! Also please go straight ahead and tell us the plan cuz this your tactic is predictable- we know you’re (gov’t) is about to hit us with something!”
IMANI Report
A report by IMANI Centre for Policy and Education in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on June 24, 2022, said: “About 83% or 8 in ten respondents indicated that their volume of transactions has changed since the implementation of the e-levy in May 2022. Of this number, about 47% indicated that they had reduced the number of mobile money transactions by about 51% to 100%. Our findings suggest that the official 24% attrition rate, which the government estimates for the first three to six months following the introduction of the e-levy, is likely to be much higher.”
“This finding implies that the forecasted GH¢4.5 billion (GHS¢60 million per month) e-levy revenue target for 2022 is unlikely to be attained given the strong consumer backlash and people finding alternative means of undertaking financial transactions.”
