Former Finance Minister, Seth Terkper has described the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy), as an overhyped revenue generation policy.
According to him, many Ghanaians are now trying to find ways to avoid paying the levy.
The E-levy, which was amended from 1.75% to 1.5% is a tax that applies to electronic money transfers, including wallet-to-bank, bank-to-wallet and bank-to-bank transactions, among others.
The government had hoped to rake in about GH¢7 billion from the collection of the levy, but the figure was revised downwards to about GH¢4.2 billion.
Despite the revised target set for the E-Levy, the delayed passage of the levy’s bill into law along with efforts by some sections of the public to not pay the tax is expected to affect the amount that will be collected by the government this year.
In a recent post on Twitter, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko noted that the E-Levy has been delivering only 10% of estimated revenue following its implementation, a remark that has received strong reactions from the Minority in Parliament as well as some economists.
Speaking on the E-Levy in a recent virtual forum on the state of the Ghanaian economy, Seth Terkper downplayed the expected impact of the levy.
“I think the E-Levy is overhyped, and it’s not going to achieve its targets. I stand for correction. We’ll wait to see, especially since its implementation was delayed from January to May. So it might not yield its target this year, but maybe next year.”