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E-Levy is a lazy approach to raise revenue – NPP’s Kwame Pianim

Kwame Pianim

Ghanaian renowned economist and New Patriotic Party (NPP) faithful, Andrews Kwame Pianim has shared his thought on the proposed E-levy by the ruling government.

The celebrated Investment Banker, in an interview on Accra-based Asaase FM, shot down the intended electronic levy.

Kwame Pianim without mincing words said the introduction of the E-Levy in the 2022 Budget Statement is a lazy approach to mobilizing revenue.

“It is a lazy way of sitting in the air condition in Ministry of Finance and say ‘oh I want money, oh let me grab this.’ The Ministry of Finance is not a budget and expenditure ministry, it is for development, it is for finance. So you are looking at what will grow the economy not what will give you money…”

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He, therefore, called on the government to rather cut down on its expenditure and find other innovative ways of raising revenue.

Recalled the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, announced the E-Levy, a 1.75% tax on mobile money and other electronic transactions, as a measure to “rope the informal sector into the tax net”.