<\/p>\n
The CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications,\u00a0Ken Ashigbey, has said that there has been an enormous withdrawal of money from various mobile money wallets since the approval of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy).<\/p>\n
Speaking to\u00a0Asaase News\u2019\u00a0Gemma Appiah, Ashigbey added that the tax is not in the interest of the ordinary Ghanaian but the government is determined to push it through.<\/p>\n
\u201cMassively, people are withdrawing from the momo and it makes the whole thing complicated. I actually don\u2019t know why the government wouldn\u2019t at least want to listen to the people. Because this is not NDC, NPP; this is a cross section by the whole population, which is not willing to pay this type of tax which is multiplicative and it is not in the interest of the common man,\u201d Ashigbey said.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday (29 March),\u00a0Parliament\u00a0passed the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) by a vote of MPs from the Majority Caucus of the House after the Minority staged a walkout.<\/p>\n
The Minority Leader,\u00a0Haruna Iddrisu, said his side still opposes the E-Levy, hence the walkout. Iddrisu urged President Akufo-Addo to withdraw the E-Levy Bill from the House because, he said, the Minority will not have anything to do with the controversial tariff.<\/p>\n
Earlier,\u00a0Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister for Finance, had said the government has decided to reduce the basic E-Levy charge from 1.75% of the value of the transaction to 1.5%.<\/p>\n
He said the government had reached this decision following engagements with various stakeholders undertaken by the government.<\/p>\n
The \u201cpoor\u201d are not part of E-Levy<\/em> Also, he debunked claims that the Levy will kill the Mobile Money [Momo] industry.<\/p>\n According to him, although the same comments were made during the introduction of the\u00a0Communications Service Tax, the telecom industry has thrived ever since.<\/p>\n Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday (29 March), the Ofoase Ayirebi Member of Parliament said, \u201cThere is a claim that has been made that it will kill the MoMo industry so don\u2019t tax MoMo.<\/p>\n \u201cThis same claim was made when the\u00a0Communications Service Tax\u00a0was being introduced, it has never killed the industry. In fact, the industry has grown.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cMr Speaker, finally, the poor have been taken out of it with the threshold implemented so that those who transfer less than GHC 100 a day will not pay this levy.\u201d<\/p>\n Source: asaaseradio.com<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Featured Video\n<\/p>\n
The Information Minister,\u00a0Kojo Oppong Nkrumah\u00a0has said that the \u201cpoor\u201d have been exempted from the\u00a0Electronic Transaction Levy\u00a0due to the threshold of less than GHC100.<\/p>\n\n
\n Disclaimer<\/span>: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n