E-Levy: Mobile Money Agents Threaten To Shut Down Businesses Over Passage Of Bill

• Mobile money operators say their already struggling businesses will suffer more when the E-Levy kicks in
• The Mobile Money Agents Association of Ghana has said its members would be forced to close shop if the bill is not scrapped
• The association said there has been a decline in mobile money transactions since the bill was announced last year

Mobile money operators have warned that they may be forced to shut down their businesses following the passage of the E-Levy bill on Tuesday.

An association representing over 1,000 mobile money agents across the country has said its members are deeply concerned about the repercussions of the bill's passage on their incomes.

On Tuesday, March 29, 2022, the Mobile Money Agents Association of Ghana told Citi News that their business is already faced with setbacks that will be worsened by the new 1.5% to be charged on some transactions.

Read also

E-Levy: Five Main Transactions That Will Be Affected By The New 1.5% Tax

General Secretary of the association, Evans Otumfour, said: “We may be tempted to withdraw our services because the service already is not all that lucrative.”

“A lot of our people will definitely be out of business… when the policy was announced, there was a sharp decline or drop in the use of mobile money.”

The 1.5% E-Levy was passed in a surprise move by a one-sided Parliament of Majority MPs after the Minority staged a walkout from the chamber.

The Minority MPs walked out before a voice vote was taken to pass the bill because of their longstanding opposition to the bill they have described as regressive, fraudulent and unnecessary.

The government pushed through the controversial bill because it said the tax that will be charged on electronic transactions would yield up to GHS7 billion annually.

Read also

E-Levy finally passed after Minority walks out of Parliament

The cash-strapped government is struggling to fund budget-intensive flagship programmes amid dwindling revenues, two factors that have been blamed on the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many critics of the bill say it is an avoidable adverse way to raise money for development.

E-Levy: These 5 Transactions Will Be Affected By The New 1.5% Tax

After Ghana’s Parliament passed the controversial 1.5% E-levy tax bill on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, YEN.com.gh brings you the five central transactions that the new tax will affect.

According to the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, the new levy will affect five principal transactions, key among them, mobile money transactions.

The transactions that the tax will affect are as follows:

1. Mobile money transfers between accounts on the same electronic money issuer (EMI)
2. Mobile money transfers from an account on one EMI to a recipient on another EMI
3. Transfers from bank accounts to mobile money accounts
4. Transfer from mobile money accounts to bank accounts
5. Bank transfers on a digital platform or application which originate from a bank account belonging to an individual to another individual

Read also

E-Levy is back in the House; MPs to debate, approve or reject the bill this week

E-Levy: Minority File Stay Of Execution Against New Tax And 'Blocks' Akufo-Addo From Signing Bill Into Law

Minority in Parliament has filed a Stay of Execution on the passage of the E-Levy bill, effectively blocking President Nana Akufo-Addo from signing it into law.

YEN.com.gh sources within the Minority NDC MPs explain that the suit's details will be made public tomorrow, March 30, 2022.

Already, the Minority has followed through on an earlier threat to challenge the bill's passage on Tuesday by a one-sided Parliament, citing illegality.

Source: YEN.com.gh