The Minority is calling for the total scrapping of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) after informing the Minister in charge of finance that even a rate of 1.5% will not be accepted.
Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta on Friday, January 28, 2022, sat in a meeting between the Majority and the Minority in Parliament to try and reach a compromise for the approval of the controversial levy.
During the meeting, the Finance Minister disclosed that his outfit has resolved to decrease the rate of the E-Levy from the initial 1.75% to 1.5%.
The latest development which was expected to convince the Minority to accept the levy unfortunately did not work.
Sources at Parliament tell Modernghana News that the Minority remains resolute on their stands that the Electronic Transaction Levy is regressive and must be totally scrapped.
Today’s meeting follows a similar one held between the Majority and Minority in Parliament on Thursday, January 27, 2022, that ended inconclusively.
Stakeholder engagements are expected to continue from today through to next where Parliament is likely to have discussions on the E-Levy in the house.
Government officials at a town-hall meeting on Thursday gave several justifications for the need to have the E-Levy implemented.
The Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta who was at the event in Koforidua stressed that it is needed to avoid government being forced to run to the IMF.
“If we don’t do this E-Levy, we’re just pushing ourselves in a way that would potentially end up in such a disaster,” the Finance Minister noted.