Economist Stephen Adei has warned that development in Ghana risks grinding to a halt if taxes are not doubled in two years’ time.
Speaking to Accra100.5FM’s morning show about a raft of economic issues including the recently-passed e-levy, Prof Adei said: “We must accept e-levy. It’s a low-hanging fruit. We must accept the e-levy”.
He warned: “If we don’t, we’ll still pay for it in another way”, adding: “We must tax electronic transactions”.
The 1.5 per cent levy is meant to affect some electronic transactions including mobile money transfers although with some pro-poor exemptions.
“For the poor, even if you transfer GHS100 thirty times, you will not pay e-levy”, he said.
In his view, “anybody who is able to transfer GHS3,000 in a month is not poor in Ghana because the average graduate pay is GHS1,500”.
“So, the e-levy will not affect a lot of people”, he added.
The former Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission also observed that no one likes taxes but “Ghanaians must know that if we don’t double all our taxes in the next two years or so, we can’t develop”.
“E-levy is less than 5% of the budget”, he pointed out.
He also dispelled claims that is a “lazy man’s way of raising revenue”.
“E-levy will make real impact in the future”, he added.
