Bussiness
Withdraw E-Levy; Ghanaians don’t like it – Bokpin
Economist and Finance Lecturer, Professor Godfred Bokpin has once again urged the government to withdraw the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy), insisting it’s a nuisance tax.
“One major policy intervention which they called E-Levy, and of course many Ghanaians did not support E-Levy, and I still don’t support E-Levy and I will still ask government to withdraw the E-Levy”, he mentioned on Joy FM Super Morning Show.
According to him, the fiscal measures introduced by government in the 2022 Budget are not living up to expectations.
A cousin of President Akufo-Addo, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, yesterday[27/06/2022] tweeted that the E-Levy since its implementation two months ago has yielded only ¢60 million, against the target of ¢600 million.
“The government came up with enhanced measures if you remember from the ministry. Some travel bans here and there and all of that. So all those enhanced measures together with the 2022 Budget actually failed to meet the expectations of stakeholders and investors.”
“And you could see that also on our yields on our bonds”, Professor Bokpin of the University of Ghana explained.
“Then you see quickly Russian-Ukraine; we may not be seeing the bullet right here [Ghana], but the effect magnifies the existing vulnerability and exposes the weaknesses in our economy in a way that we haven’t seen in recent times”, he further said.
Inflation has been rising at a faster pace in the last three months, hitting 27.6% in May 2022.
The rising inflation is largely due to increasing prices of some foodstuffs and fuel prices. This has also affected prices of some products and transportation.
Professor Bokpin said “you could see where inflation is and it appears we are helpless to some extent. In the midst of all the multiple taxes, the rising inflation itself is also a form of tax, especially on low income household who have no means of protecting their meagre savings and investments against the rising inflation.”
Source: Joy Business
Bussiness
Ghana’s GDP shows economy is fast recovering despite DDEP – Finance Ministry
Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) indicates a rapid economic recovery despite global challenges and ongoing debt restructuring, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
The Ministry in a statement today indicated that latest data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), cumulative economic growth for the second quarter (Q2) of 2024 reached 6.9%, a notable increase from the 4.7% recorded in the first quarter of 2024.
The MoF statement further noted that, “The economy’s robust recovery is in response to the macroeconomic stability and growth interventions that government is pursuing under our IMF-supported Post Covid-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG).”
According to them, the overall real GDP growth for the first half of 2024 rebounded strongly, with year-on-year GDP growth averaging 5.8% for the period, significantly higher than the 2.9% recorded in the same period in 2023.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
Read full statement below
Bussiness
Facebook, Youtube, online trading companies must be taxed – Deputy Finance Minister
The Deputy Finance Minister Dr Alex Ampaabeng, has proposed that online trading companies should be taxed to bolster the economy.
He noted that these companies, both local and international, generate significant revenue from their Ghanaian clients, which underscores the necessity for taxation.
In an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View, Dr Ampaabeng pointed out various potential revenue sources for Ghana, including online businesses and content creation companies.
He questioned why other national companies operating in Ghana are taxed, but social media platforms like Youtube and Facebook, which run numerous advertisements, are not included in the Ghanaian tax system.
According to him, these social media companies earn profits from the advertisements they display, and online trading companies also generate income from the sale of their products and services.
He mentioned online trading companies such as Jiji, Jumia, and Tonaton, which he believes surpass all physical marketplaces in Ghana in size.
According to him, “I can’t think of a country which has not gotten a digital service tax system of some sort, so Ghana is long overdue. Just to make an example so that people will appreciate where I’m coming from. Go to Youtube and play a video, within one or two minutes, you are going to watch about two, or three adverts.”
“What it tells you is that Facebook or Youtube is making profits right here in Ghana. Go to your Facebook account, and you are going to see a number of adverts on your right, left. What it is telling you is that Facebook is making profits right here in Ghana and not being taxed. Meanwhile, there are companies operating in Ghana, for jurisdiction reasons, of course, that are being taxed,” he said.
The Deputy Minister added that “So then, it comes to the question of the application of our tax laws. Revenues generated in Ghana are subject to taxes. We have Facebook, TikTok and all those players, these are digital platform owners.”
He stressed, “Then we have the digital or market players, here we are talking about individuals who are using the digital platforms. We have Jiji, Jumia, Tonaton, these combined, are bigger than all physical marketplaces in Ghana. And it tells you the volume of transactions, that are going on there.”
He expressed his hope that individuals earning online profits from Ghanaian residents would be taxed.
“There are conversations ongoing, I wouldn’t want to pre-empt anything, maybe in the future, it might not be anytime soon, what I would like to see, is a Ghana where people who are earning all forms of profits in the country are subject to taxes. People who are trading online to Ghanaian residents, people who are generating revenue from Ghana are allowed to pay taxes,” he noted.
Additionally, he proposed a collaboration with the government to curb cybercrime by registering and verifying these online trading companies.
“We can have a system where the government engages these operators, so individuals will submit their Ghana Card and are registered and verified,”he concluded.
Source: Citinewsroom.com
