After e-levy, govt must focus on getting taxes from Youtube and other online activities – Okraku Mantey
The Deputy Minister for Tourism, Mark Okraku Mantey has called on government to now focus on some online activities after the successful passage of the electronic levy.
The Deputy Minister for Tourism, Mark Okraku Mantey has called on government to now focus on some online activities after the successful passage of the electronic levy.
He said the government get some revenues from online activities like Youtube, Bolt Food and the others.
Speaking in an interview on GTV in Accra, he said for Ghana to develop citizens have to contribute their quota through taxes.
Mr. Mantey said he supports the E-Levy because he believes skilled workers in the informal sector such as Masons, Carpenters, and others do not pay any direct tax on the income they receive, but they are quick to complain about poor infrastructure, poor road networks and many other problems facing the country which he cannot seem to fathom.
He said the E-Levy will help Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, and SMEs to stay in business for long and also help the country tax Ghanaian YouTubers, vloggers, and bloggers who earn on social media and other online transactions.
“So I ask myself how do we fix these things that make you complain about what you do not contribute. Again, the small business enterprise comes up in a few years and they collapse because they are overloaded with some taxes so why don’t we expand the scope to help reduce the corporate Ghana of taxes so we can distribute it such that you don’t overload the few who have agreed to pay for it”.
“My creative people are selling on YouTube, iTunes, bolt foods, uber, people are now buying clothes online, are they paying anything to the government? No, I think after the momo I think we need to go heavily online and then cyber to see what we can get from there” he added.
Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured Ghanaians that his government will account for the revenue that will accrue from the e-levy.
According to the President “government agenda to introduce the electronic levy bill, is now electronic transfer levy Act 2022 “Act 1075″ is a strategic decision to boost our revenue mobilization drive in order to grow our economy by ourselves to improve social, economic and infrastructural development in the republic of Ghana. The controversies which emanated from the inception of the electronic levy bill was a healthy one for our democracy as a nation”.
“The government is committed to ensure the Judicious administration and implementation and the same time reporting of all revenues collected under the newly introduced electronic levy Act to impose a confidence in the government”.
