The Deputy Minister for Finance, John Kumah, has said the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) is not going to be a temporal revenue generation measure.
According to him, the government has eliminated five separate taxes in order to create room for the E-levy, including the road toll, tax on local fabric, products processing, and export, among others.
“Due to industrialisation and the world’s fourth development paradigm, we do not expect the E-levy to be ephemeral.” You are aware that we have progressed from diverse domains to the digital era. The world will become more digital in the future than the traditional economic system that we are accustomed to.
“Today, if I want to have breakfast I don’t have to walk to any Walmart, all I need to do is to send them WhatsApp or give them a phone, choose the menu on my phone and send them MoMo. Then before I know the food is delivered to my location. That is where the world is going,”.
He continued “That is where economic activity is changing to and if you are a government you quickly have to change your tax handle to reflect the needed changes, and the new paradigm of the economy. Otherwise, you will sit there and there would be nothing for you to manage the country with. So we don’t anticipate E-levy to be temporarily arranged because the world is going digital and we believe more economic activities are going forward.”
Source: GhanaWish.com
