Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, has stated that there is no money.
He noted that while public sector workers’ demands for pay raises are reasonable, the government does not have the funds to meet them at the present, so initiatives to produce domestic revenue are being made.
“I look at teachers and civil servants for example, and I will be the first to acknowledge that the wages are disgusting, nobody would fight with that,” he stated on Monday February 21 in Wa, Upper West Region, during the fourth townhall meeting on the E-levy. At the same time, 60% of the revenue we get from 700,000 people is used to pay salaries, which is also a fact.
“There is a reasonable need
“There is a reasonable need for more, and there is a legitimate reality that there isn’t any.” So, as a society, what do we do? Then you ask me to increase your income, which is OK; however, I explain that it is your colleague civil servant who collects the money, so how can you be responsible for collecting the money, not collect it, and then expect me to give it to you? That’ll be a separate issue.”
He emphasized the importance of Ghanaians supporting the Akufo-Addo government’s efforts to levy an electronic transaction tax.
Initially proposed to be pegged at 1.75 percent, the government has now reviewed the rate to 1.5 percent, but the levy is still facing resistance from a section of the Ghanaian public and the Minority in Parliament.
The government has since been on a tour of the country engaging the public in what has been christened ‘Government Townhall Meeting on E-Levy’ aimed at rallying support for the proposed tax policy.
- Ken Ofori-Atta is accused of secretly selling ADB, Prudential, OMNI-BSIC, and UMB shares to private individuals.
- There is still no closure on the GHc63 billion stolen by Ken Ofori-Atta.
Mr. Ofori-Atta said government needs the money to be able to take care of critical government expenditure in addition to building infrastructure and creating jobs.
He said even though the E-Levy may not bring in a lot of money, what would be realized should be enough to support the government.
He added that had the Minority not resisted the policy, government would have started realizing money which would have been used to pay District Assembly Common Fund.
“E-levy as small as you might think, it will be GH¢7 billion, starting this year if we had started early so we could pay your District Assembly Common Fund but your [opposition] sitting on it,” he said.
The Minister observed that majority of the Members of Parliament (MPs) in the 11 constituencies in the Upper West are NDC and that he is not surprised they do not support the e-levy.
“If I look at Upper West where we have 11 constituencies…we have 340,000 people being youth with serious issues of unemployment with eight of our MPs coming from the NDC. What reason will they have to support an e-levy which is looking about GH¢10 billion intervention called YouStart which is looking at getting to the heart of employment,” he said.
“Hate NPP all you want but what about your 340,000 youth who need jobs? What is the reason?” he wondered
