Minority rejects proposal to reduce E-levy from 1.75% to 1.5%

The Minority in parliament has rejected a proposal from the government to reduce the rate of the proposed electronic transactions levy from 1.75% to 1.5 percent.

The reduction is informed by the concession from the Telcos to reduce their 1% charge on transactions by 0.25%.

Ahotor News sources at the meeting indicate that the Minority is unwilling to compromise.

The Minority caucus has been locked up in a meeting at the DF Annan Auditorium of the Job 600 block in Parliament.

The e-levy was introduced by the government in the 2022 Budget on basic transactions related to digital payments and electronic platform transactions.

The rate in the budget was 1.75%, and it will apply to electronic transactions that are more than GHS 100 on a daily basis. This is different from the 1% telcos charge on transactions.

According to the budget, up to 0.25 percentage points of the 1.5 percent e-transaction levy or 16.7 percent of the yield from the levy, should be used to support road infrastructure development.

Ten percent of the 0.25 percentage points, i.e. 1.67% of the yield from the levy, would be dedicated to the improvement in public transportation, including the purchase of buses.

The levy has sparked controversy because of its impact on mobile money transactions and poor Ghanaians that use it.

The Minority in Parliament has been resisting the levy ahead of the debate on the Bill in Parliament.

The government has said its analysis shows that the levy won’t affect 40 percent of Ghanaians who are within the 100 cedis threshold.