E-Levy Injunction: YouStart, other initiatives to suffer financing setbacks
Dr Benjamin Amoah, a Financial Analyst, says Government’s YouStart entrepreneurship initiative and other projects aimed at reducing the country’s economic hardship will suffer financial setbacks should the implementation of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) delays.
Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader in Parliament, and two other Members of Parliament, have placed an interlocutory injunction on the implementation of the E-Levy ahead of its commencement on May 1.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Dr Amoah explained that the injunction, when granted could affect revenue projections, and funding of development projects.
The Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) said : “The delay means that the timing to kick start most of these projects will have to be on hold because the funds are yet to be mobilised.”
He added that: “It is until when all these court issues are cleared before the government will have a peace of mind to mobilise the funds and push it into the various development projects.”
Dr Amoah, therefore, advised the Government to in the interim, seal all revenue loopholes, reduce government expenditure, and willfully deal with corruption in the public sector.
He said: “The government should cut down on wasteful expenditure, check on corruption, pursue property rate, and look out for the informal sector where we have overlooked in terms of revenue mobilisation.”
In addition, he asked the government to intensify public education for people to understand the need for the levy to be implemented, and do more consultation on the implementation of the levy.
The E-Levy was assented by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Thursday, March 31, after it was passed by Parliament on Tuesday, March 29, with the Minority side staging a walk out.
It was proposed in the 2022 budget?as a new revenue mobilisation measure, and expected to give the country GHS6.9 billion for the YouStart entrepreneurship initiative, road construction among others.
The 1.50 percent levy will apply to?mobile money (MoMo) payments, bank transfers, merchant payments, and inward remittances.
All charges will be borne by the sender except in the case of inward remittances where the charge will be borne by the recipient.
Source: GNA