Send Ghana has joined hands with others calling on the government to have a broader stakeholder consultation on the introduction of the electronic Levy (e-levy).
According to the Civil Society Organisation (CSO), equity consideration is key to the introduction of the e-levy, but if care is not taken, the digital economy the government seeks to create might suffer.
Emmanuel Ayifah, Deputy Country Director of Send Ghana, speaking at Sectorial Budget Forum on the 2022 Statement and Economic Policy on the government in Accra last week Friday, acknowledged that Ghana’s revenue to expenditure is of a concern, but warned that slapping 1.75% flat rate on electronic transactions might generate new set of challenges.
He suggested that instead of the flat rate of 1.75%, the government should graduate the charges progressively, according to volumes of money transfer.
Dr Ayifah also raised concern about the effective day of implementation, as at one breathe the budget says January 2022 while another part suggests February 2022, stressing that “it is important for government to come clear on that … In fact, this is not the only inconsistency we have found in the budget.”
Expenditure
To him, while the government is keen on mobilising funds, it must equally apply similar energy into rationalising expenditure.
To him, if the government does not take steps to block profligate expenditure and corrupt deals, the country’s woes would be far from over, saying “There are too many leakages in the system. The government shouldn’t just focus on revenue, but expenditure. Cut down unnecessary expenditure and it will go a long way to help us.”
Pass the Tax Exemption Bill
He also argued that one other way to ensure that the country received the needed revenue is the passage of the Tax Exemption Bill, which has been laid before parliament.
Dr Ayifah said the bill must be passed passed and implemented for the benefit of the citizenry, as some GHC5 million is estimated to be lost to tax exempt, adding: “It is a welcome news that the exemption bill is laid in parliament now.”
The country Director advised parliamentnot to do partisan politics with the bill because whenit is passed, it will address the huge budget deficit.
“I will be happy to see an NPP person who will say something against the budget in the interest of the nation and I will be happy see an NDC Parliamentarian saying something in support of the budget, just in the interest of the nation. It shouldn’t be NPP and NDC because it is the ordinary citizen who suffers.”
Pay attention to other critical areas
More funds were required to be invested into the education, health, social intervention and agriculture.The CSO assessment of the budget revealed that in real terms there are over 12% drop in fund allocation to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in the 2022 budget.
“While we commend government for the increase in allocation to the PFJ programme in 2022, there should be measures put in place to ensure funds are released to distributors on time for adequate inputs to be supplied to the districts for the benefit of smallholder farmers.This will avert the delay in the distribution of fertilizers and certified seeds to smallholder famers that occurred during the 2021 planting season.”
