Political Scientist at University of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Asah-Asante, has says that the John Mahama administration should not eliminate the e-levy.
Dr. Asah-Asante stated in an interview with AM Show on Joy News on Friday, January 10, 2024, that he does not support the elimination of the e-levy and instead believes that the government should lessen the frequency of taxation.
According to Dr. Asah-Asante, Ghanaians have dealt with this 1% burden and are still moving on to other nuisance taxes that Ghanaians are still enduring.
The government’s best course of action, according to Dr. Asah-Asante, is to start by lowering the burden progressively from 1% downward and also bringing in a huge number of people, which will drain a lot of resources, even though pledges have been made to remove the e-levy.
He said, “Remember that you can never build any capacity of the state without the need to generate your own resources and move on,” highlighting the importance of finding creative ways to generate finances internally to assist the endeavour.
“It’s not everyday that we have a clap in hand looking for resources to support our call”, he added.
Dr. Asah-Asante then proposed that the government alleviate the burden of taxation on Ghanaians rather than eliminate it because “they are the hanging fruits that the country can lay hands on”, he said.
