The National Communication Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi has reiterated that, the party will cancel the E-levy policy, if it wins the 2024 general elections.
According to him, the tax imposes hardship on citizens, therefore the NDC will repeal it, if it assumes the reins of power.
Speaking in an interview with Raymond Acquah on UpFront on Wednesday, Sammy Gyamfi argued that, government’s decision to impose a 1.5% levy on electronic transactions is unfair.
“The General Secretary of the party has already said so. He’s my boss. He’s the Chief Executive Officer of the party, [and] he has said so. And I believe that he has the blessing of the leadership of the party, and that is a party position, that we do not subscribe to the E-levy, and we will not continue to take E-levy from Ghanaians should power change hands.
Because we need to bring honesty to the politics we do in this country. If the E-levy is bad now, it cannot be good in 2025. And I believe that the NDC will stand by that position the General Secretary has announced. I’m even looking for a situation where that will be captured expressly in our 2024 manifesto”, he stated.
In his view, the E-levy is a double taxation which affects medium of payment.
He also reiterated that, concerned citizens should not blame the NDC for the passage of the Bill into law.
According to him, the Bill is a tax initiative of the ruling New Patriotic Party, stating that despite the passage of the Bill, the NDC will continue to employ all avenues to fight the said passage.
Mr. Sammy Gyamfi made these comments, as part of his submissions on the “Review of the first quarter of 2022”. In that regard, he bemoaned the country’s current debt profile and the dwindling economic fortunes.
The NDC Communication Officer reiterated that until President Akufo-Addo and his appointees, are able to cut down on their ‘reckless’ expenditure and ‘mismanagement’, the country’s economic fortunes will remain the same.
H.E. Nana Akufo Addo signed the E-Levy bill into law two days after the Majority in Parliament approved the E-Levy after the Minority walked out saying the tax is a tool to exacerbate the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian.
The Bill was adopted at a reduced rate of 1.5% from the initial 1.75%.
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
The Finance Ministry has also highlighted some scenarios where the E-Levy will not apply. They are;
- 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 the principal, master agent, and agent’s accounts
