Justina Marigold Assan, Central Regional Minister
The Central Regional Minister, Justina Marigold Assan, has urged Ghanaian women to rise up and support the government’s proposed Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy), irrespective of their political affiliation.
Speaking at a Town Hall Meeting organised by the Information Ministry in Sekondi on Wednesday to throw more light on the levy and also disabuse the people’s mind on NDCs propaganda, Madam Assan explained that the E-Levy is intended to bring smiles on the faces of the vulnerable in society.
According to her, as managers of homes, women become relieved anytime there is comfort in their families.
Beneficiaries
The Minister noted that because women and children are the major beneficiaries of government policies, any attempt to rubbish the implementation of the novel tax regime will disadvantage them.
“Fellow Ghanaian women and mothers, please ignore the opposition NDC’s propaganda against E-Levy and support it for our own good and that of our children,” she urged.
She described the E-Levy as a revenue mobilisation measure whose implementation will be “excellent for Ghana’s infrastructure development deficit”.
While decrying the country’s “woeful infrastructure deficit”, she praised the initiators of the E-Levy, saying the government would be well resourced to continue implementing the Free SHS programme, and also create more jobs for the youth when the levy becomes a reality.
The Central Regional Minister also cited construction of more roads, hospitals and other infrastructural development as some of the benefits the people would derive when the E-Levy is supported to become a reality.
She reiterated that the E-Levy would also widen the tax net to capture 85% of Ghanaians in the informal sector.
Deep request
Meanwhile, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has also emphasised that the E-Levy idea as a deep request from the President to create jobs, and build more infrastructure to improve the general well-being of Ghanaians
He added his voice to that of Madam Assan, saying only 2.4%, out of the 30.8 million Ghanaian population, are currently paying taxes, with 57.9% of the country’s revenue being spent on compensation.
The Finance Minister said with E-Levy, each of the 21 million mobile money subscribers is expected to pay 85 cedis per year to support the country in achieving economic emancipation after political independence.
He assured the people of preparedness on the part of his ministry to restrain any leakages by furnishing them with quarterly reports of all monies from E-Levy, stressing that “monies from E-Levy are not monies lost”.
The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, in his opening remarks, dismissed the misconceptions against the E-Levy, including payment of double levy by a double SIM subscriber when transferring money from one wallet to the other.
He also refuted claims that low income earning Ghanaians living in rural areas will become poorer with the introduction of E- Levy because they will not be captured in this tax net.
The ongoing Town Hall meetings are designed to generate a healthy public debate and deeper understanding on why Government needs to raise more revenue to satisfy the growing legitimate needs of citizens.
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