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According to the former Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, the levy is not compulsory and avoidable.
He argued that if you don’t send mobile money, you will be exempt from the levy therefore he doesn’t see why some Ghanaians are upset.
Speaking on a protest by public advocacy group, ‘Justice for Ghana’, who are agitating against the proposed 1.75% e-levy, he said the demonstration is unnecessary.
He the agitation by the group does not augur well for the progress of the country. In his view, the protesters should rather help government with laudable ideas instead of opposing the 1.75% e-levy.
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The MP also added that, if the e-levy is scrapped, the government may have to resort to borrowing from other sources, which would eventually become a burden on citizens.
“What I’m telling them is that they don’t seem to understand what’s going on. Look, if they continue, and government decides that fine, I am not going to charge anymore e-levy, government would have to go and borrow that money, and it becomes me and you our burden to pay. So they should forget about what they’re doing and rather let us see how we can assist government to run this country”, Mr. Carlos Ahenkorah argued.
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Tema West MP Carlos Ahenkorah
According to the legislator, the e-levy is a welcome initiative which is designed to mobilise more revenue to enhance development, and therefore he does not understand the opposition against the proposal.
“It is not a compulsory tax, if you don’t do MoMo, you don’t pay. So if you don’t want to pay, don’t do MoMo. It’s simple”, Carlos Ahenkorah stated.
Meanwhile, Parliament remains divided over government’s decision to impose a 1.75% levy on all electronic transactions from January, 2022.
According to the Minority Caucus, the proposition is regressive, therefore their refusal to rally behind it. This is despite efforts by the Majority Caucus to push for the acceptance of the policy.