E-Levy Is Electronic Highway Armed Robbery – Mahama Ayariga

Mahama Ayariga, Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, has described the proposed electronic transaction levy (E-levy) as highway robbery.

He claims that the 1.75 percent E-levy on the value of digital transactions is essentially a capital tax.

He claimed that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has “actually mounted a barrier on the electronic highway to plunder innocent Ghanaians” in a desperate bid to suck more money from an already impoverished Ghanaian community.

“Electronic transaction taxation is mainly on capital,” said Hon. Ayariga, who spoke during the 2022 budget debate in Parliament on Thursday. Yes, it is a capital tax.”

“Permit me to explain in simple terms. I take a multitude of hazards when I transport my money from Bawku to Techiman to trade in a bus. Armed robbers may attempt to rob me along the route, but if they do not stop me, I will arrive at the Techiman market with my funds intact.”

“What the government is trying to do is create a new highway called the electronic highway, and when I go on it, the government will take 1.75 percent of my money.”

“So the government has turned into an armed robber on the electronic highway,” he explained, “and when I carry my money on that highway, it takes 1.75 percent of it without doing anything for me.”

That is a capital tax, according to the Bawku Central MP, because the government has not provided sufficient service to justify taking 1.75 percent of the electronic transaction.

He pointed out that the government can tax capital gains and sales on electronic media, but not money in transit.

He cautioned that it is a particularly harmful policy tool that should not be accepted.

Mr. Ayariga claimed that the government’s proposed E-levy on a behavior (electronic transactions to create a cashless society) is Policy Stupidity.

“You want to encourage a certain behavior, but you’re putting a tax on it.”

He pointed out that Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia gave a speech on the government’s digitization efforts to encourage people to engage in electronic transactions, but the administration is now robbing individuals using that platform.

He inquired, “What kind of policy is that?”