An Associate Professor at the University of Ghana Business School, Professor Lord Mensah, has urged government to utilize proceeds from the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy) judiciously to boost the confidence of Ghanaians.
Professor Mensah stated that it is clear that government needs to show better discipline in the expenditure side of governance. “We must tighten our belts.”
“We need to focus on ensuring that the little that is coming from the E-levy will be seen and felt by the Ghanaian to instill confidence. This is essential. I indicated some time ago that, if we are able to prove to Ghanaians that the little that we have is going into something visible for them, it will whet the appetite of the levy payer.”
Professor Lord Mensah
According to Professor Mensah, it is too early to write down gains from E-levy because the projected revenue was not met two months into its implementation.
“I believe that we should give the E-levy some time. Let’s wait because our economy is not an island and global standards still impact us. The IMF may not be what may save us. Such policy uncertainty can never be utilized to build a country’s economy as it does not instill confidence in investors.”
Professor Lord Mensah
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Kweku Kwarteng, has stated that it is too early to make a determination as to whether a major policy like the E-levy has failed or not.
Mr. Kwarteng indicated that should government assess that the E-levy is not a helpful policy, it will be withdrawn.
“In fact, the implementation has not fully even began and I say that because the E-levy is supposed to be collected on an electronic platform so that if you’re paying a GHS100 by your MoMo, if you try to pay the next 100 through your bank account, the system would know that you have already exhausted your threshold. That platform has not come into effect yet.”
Kweku Kwarteng
Monitoring is not possible
According to Kweku Kwarteng, because the system hasn’t come into effect, real time monitoring is not possible. He stated that with the figures being seen, he is not sure the monies have been taken from all the collecting agencies.
“What GRA is trying to do whilst they now seek to complete the building of the platform is to let the collecting agencies to declare. When they declare, I doubt if the GRA has even had the opportunity to audit. Then they will now take steps to audit. All that hasn’t happened.”
Kweku Kwarteng
Both comments came after a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Otchere-Darko, stated that, although the tax policy is not living up to its intended expectation, it is not a bad tax.
According to Mr. Otchere-Darko, Ghanaians are just apprehensive about the payment of taxes.
“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.”
Gabby Otchere-Darko
Gabby Otchere-Darko revealed that the E-levy has generated about GHS60 million, close to two months after its implementation. He stated the levy has failed to live up to the expectations of the government.
“What options are open to the 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 Otchere-Darko
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