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Peg E-levy at 1% not 1.75% – Economist

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A Development Economist and Lecturer at the C. K. T. University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS), Mr Bismark Osei has said the government’s decision to impose taxes on digital transactions is a move in the right direction. He said it is an innovative way to raise internal revenue for the country to develop.

Mr Osei was however worried about the rate of the levy that was imposed on the digital transactions. In Mr Osei’s opinion, the Electronic Transaction Levy should have been pegged at 1 percent and not the proposed 1.75 percent. He was worried that the steepness of the levy could reverse all government’s work in making the economy a cash-lite one. He explained that government stands to make 500 million Ghana-cedis monthly should the levy be approved as it is.

He disclosed that as at June this year, mobile money transactions had overtaken cheque transactions by over 232 billion Ghana-cedis.

He said this when he spoke on A1 Radio’s Current Affairs Programme Critical Issues.

“The concerns of people are legitimate. Why 1.75 percent? I think we should have started from 1 percent. If the government wants to impose taxes on electronic transactions, fine, but the 1.75 percent will have a debilitating effect on the digitalization drive by government,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Mr Osei described the 2022 Economic Policy and Budget Statement as largely beneficial to the economy. He commended government’s proposal to partner directly with MMDAs to collect revenues on properties across the country. He said the move will allow for an increase in internally generated funds.

A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz| Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith | Ghana

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