Politics of Monday, 31 January 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-01-31How can you introduce a bill and say you are now going to consult – Edudzi Tameklo to govt
NDC legal and communication team member, Godwin Edudzi Tameklo
Government thinks Ghanaians are not intelligent, Tameklo
E-Levy violates the basic principles of taxation, NDC lawyer
NDC totally opposed to E-Levy, Lawyer
A member of the NDC legal and communication team, Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, has questioned the inconsistency with the E-Levy bill government is seeking to implement.
According to him, the normal process of introducing a
Read full articlelaw was to engage in broad consultations before submitting a bill for approval in parliament.
Edudzi Tameklo, who made these remarks on Joy New’s Newsfile, which was monitored by GhanaWeb on January 29, 2022 said, “You (government) have introduced a bill, in fact you wanted it passed as early as in November and you meet resistance and you now say that you are going to consult on it.
“Quite clearly it is either you (government) are incompetent or you take others as not being intelligent,” he said.
Also, he said the levy violates one of the basic principles of taxation which is fairness.
“Today if E-Levy is passed and it becomes law if you and I show go into the same shop and I have money (physical cash) and I pay I do not pay this E-Levy but if you pay electronically you would pay. This is completely discriminately and so it offends the principal of tax administration,” he added.
The lawyer further stated that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party agree in principle with the position of Vice President Dr Mahamud Bawumia on taxing mobile money transaction.
According to Godwin Tameklo, the vice president in an interview said: “it is unconscionable to tax mobile money (momo) transactions.”
He said Dr Bawumia then explained that momo is one of the surest medium for poor people to transfer money and therefore should not be tax.
The lawyer reiterated that as a social democratic party, the NDC and its members of the minority caucus in parliament, totally agree with the position of the vice president.
“We are not going to charge that position not now and not in the future,” he added.
He noted that the vice president, who is chairman of Ghana’s economic management team, has still not commented on the E-Levy since it was introduced by government.
