The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), has suggested to government that the 5 percent Financial Sector Levy imposed on gross profits of banks be spread to other equally important sectors of the economy.
The assertion was made by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Association, Seth Twum Akwaboah in a media interaction.
According to him, some sectors of the economy aside the banking sector made good gains from the pandemic and as such should also be made to pay some form of taxes to the government.
“Government should consider spreading the 5 percent levy to other sectors of the economy that are equally important and made some good gains during the height of the pandemic last year rather than targeting a particular sector,” he stated.
Aside the banking industry, the communication and information sector is another sector that benefitted immensely from the outbreak of the pandemic as dependence on data, mobile money services and purchases of goods on online surged.
Speaking further, Mr Akwaboah called for a dialogue between government and banks in the country on the implementation of the levy.
“The banks are already paying the National Fiscal Stabilization Levy (NFSL) and so if government is going to introduce another levy, it should have been discussed with the banks, and so I am not surprised that the banks are complaining,” he stated.
“I think further discussions should be made between the Finance Ministry and banks to see how the new levy can be repositioned,” he added.
Meanwhile the Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB) has described the new levy as being counterproductive.
The association posits that the new tax will affect the ability of banks to attract the needed capital in the post-Covid-19 recovery process of the economy.
