E-levy was not necessary in the first place – Tamale Central MP

The Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, has commented that the e-levy policy was not necessary, due to the fact that the tax regime has become a burden on the poor.

He argued that most Ghanaians were not in support of the e-levy policy, therefore the government should have listened to them when they going through the processes for its implementation.

“Those who rejected the e-levy were considering the burden of such tax regime on the poor,” he said on TV3’s Big Issue show, monitored by Angelonline.com.gh.

Mr. Ibrahim Murtala was reacting to the 2023 budget statement read by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, specifically on the reduction of the electronic transaction levy rate from 1.5% to 1%.

The Finance Minister said, “Mr. Speaker, we will undertake the following actions, initiatives, and interventions under the seven-point agenda. To aggressively mobilize domestic revenue, we will among others; Increase the VAT rate by 2.5% to directly support our roads and digitalization agenda; Fast-track the implementation of the Unified property Rate Platform programme in 2023; and Review the E-Levy Act and more specifically reduce the headline rate from 1.5% to one per cent of the transaction value as well as the removal of the daily threshold.”