We can’t continue to live on foreign savings – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that the E-levy proposal presents an opportunity for every Ghanaian to contribute towards nation building.

Speaking at the Labour Conference at Kwahu-Nkwatia in the Eastern Region on Monday February 28, he said the proposal is such an innovative fiscal measure which will help improve Ghana’s tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio on an equitable basis.

“We cannot continue to allow less than 10%, specifically 7.8%, that is, 2.4 million people of the population to carry the direct tax burden of 30.8 million people. We must provide an opportunity for every Ghanaian to contribute towards nation building.”

“The proposed e-levy is such an innovative fiscal measure which will help improve our tax to GDP ratio on an equitable basis. I believe strongly that it is in the public interest that it should be enacted into law. We cannot continue to live on foreign savings,” he noted.

The E-levy proposal is currently facing resistance from the Minority in Parliament and also a section of Ghanaians.

But the Majority Leader in Parliament Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has expressed optimism that the E-levy will be approved by Parliament.

He said New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawmakers are going round the country explaining the policy to Ghanaians in order for them to accept it.

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.”