E-Levy consultation process has seen good progress – Dep Finance Minister
The Deputy Minister for Finance, Abena Osei-Asare, has noted that progress has been made in the ongoing consultations with regards to the proposed E-Levy.
The Deputy Minister said this ahead of the laying of the E-Levy bill in Parliament later this week as the house is expected to rise on 17 December 2021.
She noted that the consultation process will influence the outcome of the final tax instrument that will be laid in Parliament.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Public Accounts Committee sitting on Tuesday, December 14, Mrs Osei-Asare disclosed that concerns of Ghanaians have duly been considered in the bill and its ready for laying.
“I believe that we will bring the bill in and hopefully, all things being equal, it will be laid in Parliament, and all of us will see everything stated clearly in the electronic transaction levy (E-Levy).
“You can never finish consultations, so I cannot say consultations are over, but we have made very good progress in the consultation process and I believe that it will reflect in the bill that we will be presented to Parliament,” she said.
Read: US Congress narrowly votes to raise debt limit
Meanwhile, The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has urged lawmakers from both political sides not to take divided positions to frustrate government business following the stalemate between the Majority and Minority in Parliament over the approval of the 2022 Budget Statement.
The Asante monarch also noted that for the government to meet the needs of its citizens, it needs to introduce taxes and so a fierce opposition from the parliamentarian’s could cripple development.
Speaking at the launch of a Commemorative Gold Coin in his honour at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II urged the MPs to assume a compromise position to get the budget statement passed.
“There is no perfect government and there will never be as long as different points of view prevail.”
“And if we are honest, we will also agree that there are no people in the whole wide world who love paying taxes, and yet there is no other way conceived by the human mind by which government can raise the resources to provide our needs than taxes.”
He added, “But our representatives also need to bear in mind that it is not their role to either determine policy for the executive or frustrate them from performing their legitimate duties, the good thing is, in a democracy is that people listen, observe and weigh what their leaders do and pass judgement at the appropriate time…”
Several meetings held between both sides of the House to find common ground on the impasse on the 2022 Budget have resulted in a stalemate.
The Minority caucus in Parliament has resolved not to support the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic policy of the government.
But the Asantehene said it is about time the Majority and Minority sides of Parliament compromised on the matter adding, “Prudent way is to seek convergence of views; that across many jurisdictions today, one word has come to symbolize the livelihood and the soul of democracy. It is called compromise…through all the land proclaiming their faith in democracy, the name of the game is compromise.
“It makes sense; history and perhaps science too should tell us that when an irresistible force meets an immovable object, the inevitable outcome is chaos. When the art of governance becomes overly rigid and inflexible it invites the search for an irresistible force and an unorthodox part to resistance…”
He added, “we have moved on from the period where one political party dominated everything.”
