General News of Tuesday, 3 May 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-05-03E-Levy: You are a square peg in a round hole; shut up! - Sam George slams John Kumah
Samuel Nartey George, the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram
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Sam Nartey George, the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, has suggested that the Deputy Finance Minister, John Kumah, lacks the required knowledge to speak on issues related to the Electronic
Read full articleTransaction Levy (E-levy).
Sam George in a blatant attack on John Kumah over some concerns birthed from the introduction of the E-levy, opined that John Kumah is not endowed with the knowledge in IT issues.
He therefore asked him to go silent and allow persons with command on the IT space to lead the conversation.
“I have told you square pegs have no place in round holes. When we are talking IT deployment, kindly do us a favour and keep quiet. You make more sense that way. Cheers,” Sam George tweeted at John Kumah.
The banter between the two parliamentarians is fueled by divergent views on users suffering E-levy deductions for using an electronic platform to pay their tithes or religious commitments.
John Kumah argued that the position by Sam George is disingenuous as the E-levy does not affect the tithe but rather the platform being used to pay the tithe.
“@samgeorgegh, you have brains use them. Whether E-levy affects tithe, or not is not an issue of IT deployment, it is common sense. I thought the IT community has cautioned you to tread cautiously when it comes to its operations & not to feign ignorance as you always do.
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“Your argument is that E-levy is a tax on tithe& offering , this is falsehood because we are not taxing people for paying tithe & offering. We are taxing people for using an online platform and if in the course of paying their tithe, they are taxed for using a platform,” John Kumah said in a series of tweets.
“If you drive to Parliament and you buy fuel which is taxed does that mean we are taxing your work as a parliamentarian?” he further quizzed.
The Ghana Revenue Authority, on May 1, 2022, began implementation of the E-levy amidst some reported challenges, including taxes on the GH₵100 threshold which is supposed to be exempted.
The GRA has, however, pledged to refund all wrong deductions whiles it works to resolve all the challenges encountered in the implementation phase of the E-levy.
