Minority rejects E-levy in all shape and form

The minority in parliament has kicked against the passage of the electronic transaction levy bill into law.

Making a statement against the bill in parliament, the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee, Honorable Cassiel Ato Forson argued vehemently that charging E-levy on Ghanaians would amount to nothing but double taxation thereby inflicting pain and hardship on Ghanaians.

He said, which has been termed "the messiah and solution to all illness in the country", he lamented.

" We, on the minority side in parliament wholly oppose this tax. We're against it", he said.
The Ranking Member maintained that it would not be proper for the poor to be pay tax on their own money in their pocket to be taxed.

Deliberations on whether the bill should or should not be passed generated heated arguments on the floor of parliament.
The minority on the floor of parliament chanted "don't tax MoMo, don't tax MoMo, MoMo" amidst  Honourable Ato  Forson's presentations.

On his part, the Member of Parliament for ...hon Adongo argued in the chorus that the bill must not be accepted.

He said they would lay an extra burden on the poor and would intend to make them poorer.

The minority leader, Honorable Haruna Iddrisu said the name of the tax kept changing making him not know exactly what the finance minister moved in parliament.

"What MoMo, the telcos are already collecting the so what do they want to collect?. He admonished the minister to engage various institutions, including academia, fintech amongst others.

"Today, they say they are the economic Messiahs of the economy", he said.
Mr. Speaker nowhere in the world is an E-levy of a total of 3.5 charged", he said. 

He said the E-levy tax is a nuisance tax adding that they on the other side wouldn't support the E-levy.

They see it as retrogressive. He called on the president to withdraw what he called the " chop, chop tax. After the submission, the minority staged a walkout.

The speaker further directed the bill to the consideration stage of consideration stage.
A motion was moved to reduce the 1.75% to 1.50%.