Despite calls by some economists and civil society organisations for the E-Levy to be maintained due to the difficult financial situation the country finds itself, the Minister-designate for Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has reiterated his resolve to remove it in his first budget statement.
According to him, the E-Levy could not be described as a direct or indirect tax and contributed little to the country’s purse and economic growth.
Dr Forson gave the assurance in Accra yesterday in over three hours of grilling as the first of three Ministerial nominees of President John Dramani Mahama, and said the E-Levy was inimical to the agenda of government to promote a cashless economy and efforts to deepen financial inclusion.
“E-Levy retards our progress to a cashless economy and my earlier commitment still stands. The quality of the expenditure and its implementation must be geared towards protecting the vulnerable in society,” he added.
The Minister of Finance designate also stated that the betting tax would be scrapped.
He said betting tax also brought only about GH¢50million to the coffers of the country and what the country needed now “is cutting the waste in expenditure which only benefit a few in the society.”
The ministerial nominee explained that improving tax revenue to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 13.8 per cent to 20 per cent would be too steep.
In line with that, Dr Forson said he would establish a body to conduct independent value for money analysis on government spending and projects.
In addition, he said he would work to revitalise the cocoa and palm industries, and establish Ghana Gold Board “to send a strong signal to the domestic market that the government was ready to salvage the economy.”
Ghana, Mr Forson said had huge potential when it came to tax revenue mobilisation and said government did not necessarily “have to increase tax to raise revenue.”
He indicated that the government would implement the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme as well as partner the Bank of Ghana for proper monetary policy formulation and management.
Mr Forson noted that the introduction of strong fiscal measures would help move the country away from the over reliance on the treasury market to raise capital to finance the country capital expenditure.
The Ministerial nominee described as frightening the financial obligation on the government to pay GH¢12.6 billion in 2025, GH¢15.6 billion in 2026 and GH¢53 billion in 2027 with similar problems with Euro Bond which the country must pay one billion dollars every year.
“We cannot afford to default, we will implement an independent debt management fund to address the challenges and to also stop borrowing, we need to have a plan to cap the borrowing, Ghana’s economy must grow, the choice of the investment matters, we have the choice to either use $58 million to dig a pit or use it to construct roads,” Mr Forson stated.
BY LAWRENCE
VOMAFA-AKPALU
