Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, former Minister of Finance, has added his voice to the many calls for the rejection of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy), claiming that it will compound Ghanaians’ multiple taxes.
Dr. Duffuor reiterated that implementing the E-levy would directly affect ordinary Ghanaians because it is the most widely used mode of payment.
The former Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) disclosed that the E-levy move would lead to double taxation as the taxpayer is already taxed on his income.
“This makes the proposed E-levy problematic because it could be fraught with serious implementation challenges. This tax could undermine the Ghanaian Digital Economy.
“It should be noted that taxes/levies are levied on income, gifts, consumption, and owned property or assets.” “Electronic transfers and payments are neither of these,” he explained.
Dr. Duffuor made these remarks while delivering a lecture on the theme “The Ghanaian Dream; Transforming the Economy through Job Creation and Opportunities for All” at the Tang Palace Hotel in Accra on Monday, November 29th, 2022.
The event brought together various personalities in business, politics, agriculture sector, education, traditional rulers among others.
Touching on job creation, Dr. Duffuor pointed out that for a sector to thrive, the government must start matching jobs with skills in a more intentional way.
“We cannot demand of our youth to rise if we do not offer them a platform to step on, a first step into employment and self-sufficiency. This is what the government can and should do,” he added.
