A former Trade Minister in the John Agyekum Kufour administration has warned that the implementation of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) could be destructive to the poor.

Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, says the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) may pay a political price if the Levy impacts negatively on the citizenry.

The ECOWAS Commissioner for Macroeconomic Policy called on government to rather explore ways to tax big firms and further block avenues aiding tax evasion.

Reacting to the passage of the E-Levy, he said “government should tax businesses to generate resources; the individuals, direct taxes such as this sometimes can be very, very destructive.”

“Even the business, there’s a basic economic principle that the lesser you tax a business, and government reduces its expenditure, the better off it is for the nation.

“We are politicians, and in the final analysis, the people are the ones who would give their verdict. If it’s as bad as people think it is, and NPP insist on it, the NPP will pay a big price.

“Government must expand its tax net for the corporations and the bigger companies. The little ones, they need protection because we are very poor to begin with," he said.

The controversial Levy was passed by Parliament and assented to by the President last week.

The Bill was adopted at a reduced rate of 1.5% from the initial 1.75%.

The tax, which has become a subject of debate among Ghanaians, is expected to rake in close to ¢6 billion in tax revenue for the country.

Its implementation is expected to begin May, 2022.

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has already hinted that its structures have been revised and ready to ensure mobilization of the income.

Transactions E-Levy will cover

• Mobile money transfers between accounts on the same electronic money issuer (EMI)
• Mobile money transfers from an account on one EMI to a recipient on another EMI
• Transfers from bank accounts to mobile money accounts
• Transfer from mobile money accounts to bank accounts
• Bank transfers on a digital platform or application which originate from a bank account belonging to an individual to another individual

Transactions E-Levy will NOT cover

• Cumulative transfers of GHC100 per day made by the same person
• Transfers between accounts owned by the same person
• Transfers for the payment of taxes, fees and charges on the Ghana.gov platform
• Electronic clearing of cheques
• Specified merchant payments (that is, payments to commercial establishments registered with the GRA for income tax and VAT purposes)
• Transfers between principal, master agent and agent’s accounts

Panic withdrawals

The General Secretary of the Mobile Money Agents Association, Evans Otumfour, says his outfit will intensify public education on the E-levy Bill, to address the increasing spate of panic withdrawals following the passage of the Bill.

According to him, the reports on the increasing rate of panic withdrawals can be attributed to the low level of public education on the Bill.

Speaking in an interview with JoyNews on Saturday, he stated that if public education is intensified, the general public will be at ease and continue to keep their monies in their mobile wallets.

“What we’re doing now is first of all educating our members across the country as to the areas that the E-levy will be covering and those that the E-levy will not be covering so that, indirectly we’ll be using our various members as tools to educate the general public.

"So anytime anyone visits any of the outlets to perform whatsoever transaction, we’ll try to ask the person if he or she really understands the E-levy.

"Then again, we’ll be partnering government to also make sure that we go up there with extensive education. Because we believe that if the education goes down well, what we’re experiencing now will be something that will not continue to happen again," he added.