Townhall meetings should have preceded the implementation of the E-levy, and we’ll do better next time — Majority Leader

The Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has admitted that the ongoing nationwide consultation on the E-levy should have been done before the policy was announced in the 2022 budget statement.

He has assured Ghanaians that the government will do better next time when introducing a tax of this nature.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with TV3’s Benjamin Aidoo, the Suame lawmaker and leader of Government Business in Parliament said “You will see the Finance Minister going to organize townhall meetings in various regional capitals.

“Maybe, we underestimated the resistance. In any human institution people really will not come out openly to embrace the imposition of taxes, so we thought that yes, there will be some resistance it being a new levy or tax that we are going to introduce, but maybe we underestimated the strength of the resistance.

“Maybe, what we are doing now, I know some of my colleagues are out in various regions and constituencies trying to explain matters to their constituents, with hindsight maybe, this ought to have preceded the introduction of the E-levy. Perhaps, next time we will do better.

“But as I said we are still engaging and I want to believe that we will certainly bring this to successful completion.”

In rejecting the E-levy, the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu said the E-levy policy is a disincentive to the growth of digital economy.

To that end, he said, the Minority will not support it.

Speaking at a post budget workshop in Ho on Saturday November 20, he said “Mr Speaker, understandably, we see that the Minister of Finance seeks to introduce some measures including the now popularly declared e-levy or digital levy  as some have quite named it.

“Mr Speaker, our concern is whether the e-levy itself is not and will not be a disincentive to the growth of digital economy in our country . We are convinced that the e-levy may as well even be a disincentive to investment  and a disincentive to private sector development in our country. We in the minority may not and will not support government  with the introduction of that particular e-levy . We are unable to build national consensus  on that particular matter.”