Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Tamale South has shared his thought on the electronic levy implemented in the 2022 budget read by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta in Parliament on the 17th of November, 2021.
According to Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are not in support of the e-levy on Momo transfer and bank transfer initiated by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
“The e-levy on Momo and banks transfer is ridiculous. Banks are already paying to you corporate taxes,’’ he said.
In an interview on PM Express on Joy News, Mr Iddrisu revealed that policy inconsistency is the anemia of the ruling NPP government.
According to him, when the then NDC government introduced the Value Added Tax (VAT) on financial services in the country, the then NPP opposition described the initiative as nuisance.
“When the NDC government introduced VAT on financial services, the opposition party described it as nuisance tax. So what word do you give for this?’’ he rhetorically asked.
Mr Iddrisu went on to explain that the VAT levy was on fees while the e-levy is on persons.
He then revealed that there is no country in the world that taxes the capital of persons or an organisation but rather there is tax on income, revenue or expenditure.
“For instance, a market woman who sells plantain asks one to help her send GHC 200 momo transfer to purchase plantain, and you tax her on the transfer, you are taxing on her capital. That is not acceptable under no circumstance,’’ he revealed.