A member of the NDC communication team, Osman Ayariga, has urged Ghanaians to trust that former President, John Dramani Mahama, will scrap the E-levy as promised when he comes to power.
Commenting on the E-levy implementation, Mr Ayariga described the tax as one that is regressive. “It is an obnoxious tax. Yes! You can trust John Dramani Mahama to scrap the E-levy.”
Mr Ayariga indicated the NDC has proffered other solutions as to how the country can generate revenue aside collecting taxes using the E-levy. He stated that the party has proposed solutions to the current administration on how it can be able to manage the economy.
“We have told them if we cut our spending, we restructure our debt and if we reduce government structure, this should be able to save us some money. We need to look at the kind of expenditure in the country and cut the wastage.”
Osman Ayariga
According to Osman Ayariga, Mahama never said Ghana as a country is not expected to be taxed. He averred that what Mahama meant was that the nation should be taxed when the economic situation in the country is very conducive and not at the time everybody is going through serious hardship.
Mr. Ayariga indicated that the SOEs losing close to GHS5.3 billion shows that the E-levy can also be lost through mismanagement making the tax collection meaningless. He posited that the country has also lost GHS12.8 billion through other forms of mismanagement. “So, here’s the case we are wasting GHS12 billion on one hand and on the other hand, you’re taxing Ghanaians to raise just GHS4.3 billion.”
Economic situation due to mismanagement
Osman Ayariga stated that government wants to make the public believe COVID-19 has brought about the economic hardship, when the problem is actually from them due to the mismanagement of the COVID-19 funds. Osman Ayariga then questioned how the nation got itself into such a dire state of affairs with regards to the economy and the passage of the E-levy.
“How did we get here to the extent that we are fighting over whether we should implement or not to implement E-levy. Whether the implementation is right or wrong. We as citizens are suffering and even suffering to pay the E-levy and when I look at the deduction it’s like a dagger piercing through my heart. I feel the pain.”
Osman Ayariga
Contributing to the discussion, Private legal practitioner, Kwame Jantuah intimated that former President, John Mahama, in terms of his comment that the NDC will repeal the E-levy spoke “a little too soon”.
Kwame Jantuah stated that Mahama who was the presidential candidate for the NDC in the 2020 elections spoke as though the NDC will win the elections both the Presidential and Majority in Parliament.
“I don’t know whether he knows what 2024 elections is going to turn out to be. It is not an executive decision to repeal the E-levy, it is Parliament. If you don’t have majority in Parliament how do you repeal it?”
Kwame Jantuah
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