Peter Lanchene Toobu, the Member of Parliament for the Wa West Constituency in the Upper West Region has shared his lack of surprise towards the government’s inability to raise the targeted revenues through the rather controversial Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy).
“When data speaks to you and you refuse to listen, the people will respond in reality to you and you will see what it means,” he said.
The lawmaker’s comments come on the back of an earlier Tweet by a leading member of the NPP, Gabby Otchere-Darko that the government is just realising some 10 percent of targeted revenues from the E-levy.
“What options are open to the government? The question should rather be: what option, if adopted, will re-inject investor confidence in our economy? Even if we find the $3-5 billion required, will that help? E-levy which was to have given us some 600m by now has done less than 60m,” he said in a tweet on Monday, June 27.
Sharing his thoughts on the development and revelation by Mr. Otchere-Darko, Mr. Toobu explained that the government failed to pay heed to wise counsel by the opposition NDC, along with opinions from other CSOs.
He said this when he spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show, today, June 28, 2022.
“Even from the beginning, about 90 percent of the Ghanaian population said, this is not a good tax; please take it back. You [government] decided to say no, for the 10 percent that said it is a good thing, we will go ahead to implement it. Is it surprising that at the end of 2 months, you have really got a reflection of what the data is saying?”
“90 percent of the people said no, and you said you were still going to do it. They [90 percent of the people] said go ahead and do it and you will see, now here we are. Governance is not by force; it is all about consensus building. If you want to use force, you [must realize] we are not in a military regime.”
“Whose fault is it? This is a government that is not ready to listen when it comes to money. When they collect the money, we do not know what they use the money for,” he said.
He said while admittedly people do not want to readily pay taxes, government wasteful and preposterous spending even deepens people’s distaste for the payment of taxes.
Until government learns to invest properly in the well-being of the general populace, the E-levy would continue to fail.
“The motivation in paying taxes is to see that your taxes are being used for something better. Sometimes, the pain is there but when you see your taxes being used well, you will pay.”
Meanwhile, the Mobile Money Association of Ghana (MAG) is lamenting the snail’s pace of their business since May 1, 2022, when the implementation of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy) began.
Across the country, it is estimated that more than 4,000 Mobile Money (MoMo) vending points have been closed down because of dwindling profit margins. But the situation may be even worse in the Upper East Region.
Ernest Anabire, the Upper East Regional Vice-Chairman of MAG, speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East explained that while some businesses have folded up completely, owners of vending points have had to cough out money outside of the MoMo businesses they run to pay their workers. This puts a huge financial strain on the pockets of business owners.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
