The National Democratic Congress (NDC) will increase the E-levy rate to two percent or more when they will power in 2024, according to Dormaa East legislator Paul Apreku Twum-Barimah.
His comment comes after the 2024 NDC Presidential candidate hopeful, John Dramani Mahama at his ‘Ghana at a crossroads’ event promised to repeal the controversial levy when the NDC regain power in the 2024 general elections.
But the Ghanaian lawmaker who belongs to the majority in Parliament believes there is no way the NDC can repeal the E-levy considering the revenue it will generate for the country.
“You remember when these NDC guys promised a one-time premium for the National Health Insurance Scheme under the late President Mills when Mahama was his running mate and later Vice President.? What happened to it? Do you remember they said Free SHS was not feasible and later came back to claim it when it was successfully implemented by the Akufo-Addo-led NPP government.? So NDC and John Mahama cannot be taken seriously based on their negative records,” he said
“They [NDC] will come and increase the e-levy rate from 1.5 percent to 2 percent and more if we don’t take care and mistakenly give them power.
“It has even caused the debt to GDP rate to reduce by some margins; a positive omen for the country which is also helping to boost investor confidence”, he added.
Meanwhile, the government has begun the implementation of the E-levy on May 1, 2022, despite widespread condemnation of the tax policy.
The levy was reduced from 1.75% to 1.5% after several protests led by the opposition party, its Members in Parliament, and some civil society groups.
The government had hoped to rake in about GH¢7 billion from the collection of the 1.5% levy on mobile money and other electronic transactions, but the figure was revised downwards to about GH¢4 billion recently.
