The Minority in Parliament has been ‘threatened’ to accept the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) else government will not be able to pay their salaries.
“The same way your refusal to pass E-Levy will prevent us from creating employment opportunities for others, it is the same way your salary will be affected,” the side was told.
Chief Executive Officer of the Public Sector Reforms, Thomas Kusi-Boafo, issued the threat on Wontumi FM and warned about the effects of failing to support the E-Levy bill.
He said, “You can’t eat your cake and have it. Government says revenue has gone down, it will not affect their (MPs) salaries alone, your allowances such as sitting and fuel allowance will all be affected.”
“So if you refuse to pass E-Levy, funds for the payment of your salaries will be hard to come by.”
“The same way your refusal to pass E-Levy will prevent us from creating employment opportunities for others, it is the same way your salary will be affected,” he added.
“Who should sacrifice for you if you don’t want to sacrifice? If you as an MP who has made a commitment to sacrifice is not willing to do that who do you expect to sacrifice,” quizzed.
Government’s proposed 1.5% E-Levy has heavily been resisted by the minority that has insisted it will continue to oppose the proposed levy in its current principle and character.
The Minority’s stance is causing delay in the passage of the bill thereby impacting government’s revenue generation efforts as outlined in the 2022 budget.
Government has recently announced measures towards mitigating economic challenges with some expenditure cuts including reduction in salaries for members of the executive.
Calls have since gone out to MPs to follow suit but some Minority group members are adamant to accept this proposal.
