Vice-President and flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia says he will abolish the 1 percent levy imposed on electronic transactions in the country.
The levy, which was passed by Parliament and assented into law by president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in March, 2022, stoke controversies following its introduction in the 2022 Budget.
Many including the opposition National Democratic Congress and its side in Parliament had kicked against the levy, describing it as retrogressive.
But the government justified its introduction, saying it was necessary to resolve the economic crisis and prevent an instance the country will have to sign up for another IMF deal.
It subsequently organized town hall meetings to convince Ghanaians on why its introduction was critical in getting the economy back on track. And after months of back and forth with the Minority Caucus vowing to ensure it was trashed, Parliament passed the bill legitimizing its implementation and later, the president assented into law.
While all this was going on, one voice that was conspicuously missing in the discussion was that of the Vice-President, who is key in matters of the economy in the Akufo-Addo-led government.
He had spoken against any of such tax way before the introduction of the E-levy and many had wanted to know his position on the matter.
But he never spoke about it, leaving expectant citizens uncertain about whether he supported the move or not.
However, when he amounted the podium at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) to share his vision for the country if he is elected in the December polls, Dr. Mahamudu did not mince words in his quest to abolish the levy.
This, in his view, will accelerate the country’s drive to a cashless system.
Dr. Bawumia believes a cashless economy will guarantee the efforts to curb corruption in the country.
“To move towards a cashless economy, however, we have to encourage the population to use electronic channels of payment. To accomplish this, under my administration, there will be no taxes on digital payments. The E-levy will therefore be abolished,” he stated.
