A private legal practitioner Mr Gordon Edudzi Tameklo has said the government needs to listen to the concerns raised against the implementation of the e-levy.
In his view, the failure of the e-levy to generate the expected revenue clearly tells the government to act expeditiously in addressing the concerns.
“It simply tells you you need to listen, the arrogance is not good,” the member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said on the New Day show with Johnnie Hughes on TV3 Monday August 8.
Analysts have suggested ways that can enable the government to generate the targeted revenue from the policy.
For instance, Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, Professor Peter Quartey, said that if the rate of 1.50 per cent is reduced further, the targeted review would be met by the government.
Speaking in an interview with TV3’s Alfred Ocansey on the Ghana Tonight show, he said the e-levy cannot be scrapped now because the telecommunication companies have invested in it.
“All we have to do is to make it better,” he said, he added that “We have to wait for a year or two if we want to scrap it. If we reduce the rate the needed revenue will be met.
“There are alternatives and even banks will transfer without paying e-levy and the exemptions attached. To reduce the rate, it has to go back to parliament.”
Expected revenue from the e-levy has been revised downwards from the initial ¢6.9billion as stated in the 2022 budget statement to ¢611million in the mid year budget review.
The initial target as stated in the 2022 budget document was ¢6,963,386,254 but was readjusted in the budget review submitted to Parliament by the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta on Monday July 25 to ¢611,000,000.
Regarding Value Added Tax (VAT) the expected revenue has been adjusted upwards from the initial ¢14,534,864,446 to ¢15,402,925,770.
