National Youth Organizer for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), George Opare-Addo has reiterated that the party led by former President Mahama is committed to rescind the ‘problematic’ e-levy.
On May 2, former President John Mahama promised to repeal the e-levy law should he win the 2024 general elections during a public lecture on the State of the Nation at the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel. In the address themed ‘Ghana at a Crossroads’, Mahama indicated the opposition NDC is not opposed to taxation, however, the party is against taxes that burden the Ghanaian people and as such will repeal the act.
He said, “We in the NDC do not oppose taxation as a principle. We will not be pretentious and couch fanciful slogans to condemn the principle of taxation like the NPP did in the past. We are, however, implacably opposed to distortionary and burdensome taxes like the e-levy that only force Ghanaians to endure more suffering. A new National Democratic Congress Government, God willing and with the votes of the sovereign people of Ghana, in 2025 will repeal the E-Levy Act.”
According to George Opare Addo, the statement from the NDC leader is not a hoax and will be determined to make “the voice of the Ghanaian count”.
In an interview with Samuel Eshun on Happy98.9 FM’s “Happy Morning Show”, the NDC spokesperson labelled the e-levy tax as a disservice to Ghanaians as he proved the opposition’s commitment to scrap the act.
He said, “From the day the e-levy was introduced in Parliament of Ghana, the NDC led by the Members of Parliament opposed the e-levy. The reasons are varying and we believe e-levy is not a tax to be supported. It is a tax an unacceptable tax. Any tax system that supports the principle of double taxation is wrong. The other issue is any form of tax that taxes capital is also not acceptable and we believe it’s problematic. Under no circumstances should capital be taxed. That is how come we as the NDC believe that the e-levy is a retrogressive tax and cannot be accepted.”
He further highlighted some ways through which the NDC has expressed their commitment to oppose the e-levy.
“As of now, our minority leader and some leading members of the minority are in court asking the Supreme Court to nullify the bill that now has become law. Clearly, we have shown commitment that it is not just rhetoric. We have also moved the motion before the Supreme Court asking them to cancel the tax because the means and ways adopted by the government to pass such a bill, we believe was not under the rules and regulations.”
“As the National Youth Organizer of the NDC, I led a coalition of concerned Ghanaians to march and protest in the streets and presented a petition. One to his Excellency the President and another to the Speaker of Parliament. We suggested that the good people of Ghana are in direct opposition against the e-levy. So whatever we will do to make sure e-levy will not become a permanent tax on the Ghanaians will be done. We can’t accept a retrogressive tax,” he bemoaned.
The implementation of the new 1.5% value tax on all electronic transactions above 100 Ghana cedi started on Sunday, May 1, 2022. Nonetheless, a section of the Ghanaian public has taken to social media to pour out their displeasure about the challenges with the implementation of the controversial electronic levy (E-Levy).
By: Jude Tackie
