How Bawumia dodged E-Levy in his lecture on Ghana’s economy

Bawumia speaks on economy

Ghanaians expect Bawumia to speak on E-Levy

Bawumia mentions E-Levy once in passing in 129 paged lecture

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on Thursday, April 7, 2022, delivered a two-hour-long lecture on the current state of Ghana’s economy.

According to the Vice President, his lecture

Read full articledelivered at the Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON) Conference at the Pentecost Convention Centre in Gomoa Fete, was aimed at addressing matters surrounding what is felt in the pockets of Ghanaians.

“From the man on the streets to the business mogul, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the shelter we seek or have, to the benevolence we extend to friends and family, the health of the economy is what we feel in our pockets,” he said.

In the Vice President’s own words “times are hard,” and his lecture further aimed at addressing the causes of the current economic challenges and how government is dealing with them.

Bawumia touted several successes by the government including strides in the digital space.

However, ahead of the lecture, expectations were shared on how the vice president was expected to share his personal views on some government policies and matters of the economy including the controversial Electronic Transfers Levy otherwise known as E-Levy.

Aside the controversy surrounding the 1.5% levy to be imposed on electronic transfers by the government, the expectations on the vice president’s address on E-Levy hinged on him previously stating his opposition to taxing mobile money.

“I don’t think Mobile Money should be taxed because most of the people who use the service are poor people so if you put more taxes on it they will suffer,” he told Kwame Sefa Kayi of Peace FM during an interview in 2017.

Despite the high expectations for the acting president to break his silence on the E-Levy, Dr Bawumia barely scratched the surface of the discussion on the new tax policy which recently received presidential assent.

In his entire 129 paged lecture, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia mentioned the E-Levy once in “passing” as he listed it among some tax policies introduced by the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government.

“Ladies and gentlemen, as part of measures to get the economy back on track, improve domestic revenue mobilisation and improve efficiency, government increased a number of taxes.

"These include: The extension of the National Fiscal Stabilisation Levy and the Special Import Levies from 2020 to 2024; Imposition of a luxury vehicle levy which was later abolished; Increase in CST from 6% to 9% and subsequently reduced from 9% to 5%; Increase in National Health Insurance Levy from 2.5% to 3.5% 46; Sanitation and pollution Levy of 10 pesewas on the price of a liter of petrol/diesel; Energy sector recovery levy of 20 pesewas per liter on petrol/diesel; A financial sector clean-up levy of 5% on the profit before tax of banks, and; The introduction of an E-Levy of 1.5% on electronic financial transactions,” the vice president listed.

The vice president however maintained in his address that contrary to arguments by the opposition, the current government has kept its promise to refocus the economy from taxation-based one to a production-based economy.

“The evidence and the data is therefore clear that we have made good progress in shifting from a focus on taxation to a focus on production,” he stated.

View his Timeptath below: