Charles Bissue, the former secretary to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining has said the much-talked about Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) is an innovative way of generating revenue for Ghana.
According to him, the trend of Ghana’s economic indicators suggests that the digital space offers the government a platform to increase its local revenue mobilisation.
Speaking on Asaase Radio’s Saturday morning news analysis and current affairs show – The Forum – on January 29, Bissue said, “it is not [an admission of failure that without the E-Levy, the economy will collapse]. It’s rather an innovative way of actually raising money.”
“Hitherto, we used to walk to the bank and transact business, because of globalisation everything has shifted to electronic and you sit in the comfort of your bedroom and send money and all that and you don’t want to pay tax. It doesn’t make sense.
“…You (the government) have to be innovative. You follow the trends of the economy and that’s what is happening. We’re dealing with an irresponsible opposition but it doesn’t mean the government has failed. I think the government is being innovative.”
“… We can go to the IMF but at the end of the day you have to pay but we need an economic revolution and I think the E-Levy is an innovative way of doing so. If it’s high, we can reduce it,” he stated.
Does economic disaster loom?
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta at a Town Hall meeting on the E-Levy held on Thursday (27 January), indicated that a dire economic consequence awaits Ghana if the E-Levy Bill fails to pass.
He indicated that economic gains made by the government in recent years will halt if Ghanaians do not support the initiative.
“If we don’t do this E-levy, we are just pushing ourselves in a way that would potentially end up in such a disaster. There was a warning of that because last week was a very difficult week for the country,” he said.
Nicholas Brown
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