The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has served notice that the Covid tax introduced in 2021 will continue to be collected until the law is repealed.
The Covid-19 Health Recovery Levy Act, 2021, Act 1068, came into force as part of measures to raise revenue to support Covid-19 expenditures.
Its review can only be initiated by the Minister of Finance, according to the Act https://mypublisher24.com/#google_vignette.
But after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared that Covid-19, otherwise known as coronavirus, was no longer a global health emergency, Ghanaians called for a cessation in the payment of the levy.
The Authority explained in a tweet on Wednesday, May 17 that the Act did not have an end date and so its officials will collect the levy until the law is amended.
“The basis of revenue collection is the law,” the Authority stated in the tweet.
“The Covid-19 Health Recovery Levy Act, 2021, Act 1068, did not have an end date and so the GRA must continue to collect until the law is amended or repealed.”
Civil Society groups have called for the repeal of the law.
The Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has questioned why government is still implementing the the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy (COVID levy).
According to him, the tax has outlived its usefulness, thus ought to be scrapped.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Thursday, Mr Bentil said the continuous implementation of the levy only reduces the trust people have in the government.
“Why are we still paying COVID Levy? The incidence of COVID-19 in this country was not as serious as other places. They claimed to have served some food, and whatever the expenditure around the pandemic is clearly problematic. You gave us free water and electricity for some months and for over a year, we’ve been paying for it.