February 2022

Politicians, parliamentarians, young entrepreneurs, and, indeed, taxpayers in Ghana have been debating the proposed introduction of an ‘Electronic Transaction Levy’ or ‘E-levy’ in recent days, following the presentation of the 2022 Budget Statement to Parliament by Minister of Finance Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, on November 17, 2021. The debate on the E-levy’s justification, fairness, and utility is at an impasse, and positions have become polarised. The 2022 budget, coming under the theme ‘Building a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Nation: Fiscal Consolidation and Job Creation,’ seeks to introduce several bold policy initiatives designed to restore macroeconomic stability, focusing on fiscal and debt sustainability in a callous economic environment. In a Twitter Space organized by the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs to solicit the opinions of Young Entrepreneurs on E-levy, opinions were divided. According to some of the participants, the introduction of e-Levy isn’t a bad idea given the economy’s current stage and since it will serve as a means for the Government to raise funds for developmental projects, especially youth entrepreneurship development. However, they did not support the 1.5% rate and have since asked that the Government reduce it to 1%. Also, they propose an increase from 100 to 500 daily threshold. According to them, many small businesses were still recovering from the impact of COVID and hence, slapping a 1.5% e-levy sound hash. Some also believed that systematic failure brought about by the Government’s inability to widen the tax net to capture the informal sector is enough grounds for the Government to focus on finding better solutions to capture more people within the tax net than introducing this e-levy. The lead discussants were Mr. Richard Addison of Kent Investments and Agriprenuer Enyonam Manye of the Ghanaian Farmer. Rep from the Mobile Money Venders Association and a host of other key Young Entrepreneurs joined the discussion. The #YouthForum was hosted by the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs CEO, Mr.Sherif Ghali.