Instead of pressing through with the controversial E-levy, Sam Nartey George, Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, has requested the administration to look for other ways to raise revenue.
According to him, the government should do everything possible to protect the rising digital economy rather than taxing it and reversing years of advances.
It will be more beneficial for the government to pursue individuals and companies who benefit from the digital economy by imposing corporate taxes on their actions, according to Sam George.
That, he feels, will be preferable than pursuing unwitting citizens with the E-levy, a tax he defined as anti-digitalization and unfair due to the additional expense it imposes on digital purchasers vs those who pay with cash.
Because of the nature of the industry, he highlighted that the government’s expected GH6.9 billion in tax revenue will not be realized.
“I feel we should have an electronic tax,” the legislator said on Hitz FM in Accra. However, the best method to implement an electronic tax is to charge those who benefit from the digital economy.
“There are a lot of people selling on Instagram and Facebook, and it’s those firms you need to go after to get them to register and pay corporate taxes.” You must target social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Twitter.
“They must come and set up their servers locally in Ghana so that you can tax them for money, as other countries do,” he emphasized.
On the matter of betting companies, he claimed that because their servers were located outside of Ghana, it was impossible for the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to determine how much corporation taxes they owed the government.
“The betting companies, they are killing the country, there is a lot of betting going on, their servers are not in Ghana, so the GRA is unable to tell the quantum of bets that have been placed so that you go and tax them.
“Their servers are in South Africa, they tell you what it is that they have received and choose to pay and take it from me, many of them are declaring only about 30-40% of what the revenue. If we go after all these loopholes, we will not need E-levy,” he added.
The E-levy since its announcement by the Finance Minister in November 2021 has received public backlash from some Ghanaians especially Members of Parliament from the Minority Caucus.
At a recent press conference, the Minister announced a number of modifications to the Bill and said the government continued to engage stakeholders on the bill ahead of resubmission before MPs.
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Source: GhanaWish.com
