Minority Forces Govt to Back down on Zero-Threshold for E-Levy

The Minority in Ghana’s Parliament has succeeded in forcing the Government to back down on a proposed hike in the collection of the Electronic Transaction levy albeit a proposed reduction in the levy from 1.5 percent to 1 percent.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, in his presentation of the 2023 Budget to Parliament in November, indicated that as part of the revenue measures for the year 2023, the Government has decided to remove the GHC 100 threshold for Mobile money transactions while the percentage of collection of the levy on every transaction will be reduced from 1.5 to 1.

This proposal was immediately objected to by the Minority Group in Parliament who cited policy inconsistency and economic hardship as well as the abysmal performance of the levy in the 2022 Fiscal year as some of the reasons why the Government’s proposal is untenable and their side will not support the amendment.

Dealing with the Electronic Transfer Levy (Amendment) Bill on the Floor of Parliament on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, sensing the insistence of the Minority Group not to backdown on its demands not to support the Bill if the threshold is removed, the Government changed its mind.

Source: Clement Akoloh||ghanaiannews.ca