The implementation of the E-levy, according to Deputy Information Minister Fatima Abubakar, is due to the fact that the country is in a post-COVID economy and not in normal times.
According to the Minister, burdening Ghanaians is not a hallmark of government, which is why the E-levy is being implemented to cope with the economy following COVID.
“A lot of Ghanaians were complaining that we don’t have to borrow because we are borrowing too much. If we are not borrowing, we are either doing burden sharing or we are begging.”
Fatima Abubakar disclosed that what COVID did to the Ghanaian and the global economy at large is that more resources are required to take care of a nation’s expenditure. As a result, she stated that it’s either the nation is raising resources domestically or “you are going to borrow or you go to IMF”.
“So, basically these are the options available to the various governments around the world or you cut your expenditure.”
According to the Deputy Minister, the government is dedicated to include a large number of people in the E-levy implementation because President Akufo-Addo told Ghanaians that the way he wants to go forward with the economy is to move away from taxing and toward manufacturing.
You would realize that as soon as he assumed office, some seventeen taxes that we persist to be nuisance taxes were removed so that Ghanaians will not have to suffer with the issue of taxation. And in place, we wanted to create a business friendly environment so that people can do business and that is the reason why special import levy was removed, 5 percent VAT on real estates was removed amongst others.” she added.
Source: GhanaFeed.com