Eli Hini
MTN GHANA
has stated that introducing new taxes on its mobile money service will have
adverse effects on financial inclusion in the country.
General
Manager of MTN Mobile Financial Services, Eli Hini, made this known at a
stakeholders’ conference on Wednesday in Accra, as part of the celebration of
MTN MoMo @ 10. The conference was themed:
“The role of regulation in sustaining the growth in the mobile financial
service in Ghana”.
According to
him, there were already taxes and related fees on mobile money transactions. He,
therefore, observed that anything aside from the existing ones was an
additional tax to the consumer.
He advised
government to look at how to use mobile money as a tool to expand the tax net
instead of considering additional taxes on it.
According to
him, “If we can digitize tax payment through the platform, then we can rather
use the mobile money to expand the tax net and collect taxes from many more
Ghanaians. In this case, we have data and information on them that can provide
enough guidance and information.” He argued that taxation would deepen the
poverty gap.
According to
him, “In Ghana, about 25 % of the population is below the poverty line; the
negative impact of taxing mobile money transactions is likely to fall most
heavily on these individuals. Imposing taxes may increase the percentage within
the poverty bracket.”
Director of
Research at Bank of Ghana (BoG), Philip Abradu-Otoo, in his presentation, said
the BoG takes cognizance of the issues raised at the forum.
Mr.
Abradu-Otoo assured the gathering that he would channel all concerns raised
including taxation, transactional limit and fraud to the appropriate
departments to be incorporated into the current policy framework being worked
on.
He thanked
MTN for its contribution to the growth of Ghana’s economy and pledged
government’s partnership with the private sector to fight poverty. He noted
that government is moving from taxation to production to ensure private sector
growth.
The MTN MoMo
Service is delivered in partnership with over 20 banks offering customers a
wide range of services including payment of bills, airtime top-ups, insurance
and employee salaries.
As of March 2019, MTN MoMo served over 11 million subscribers across the country.
Y Melvin Tarlue & Donny Morrison
