The Executive Director for Revenue Mobilisation Africa and a tax expert, Geoffrey Ocansey has said that citizens calling on government to abolish the 1 percent Covid-19 Health Recovery Levy from goods and services is a good call.
Mr. Ocansey in an interview on Plan B FM’s late afternoon show E’baanosen’ with Ohene Kinnah said, the citizens are feeling the negative impact of the IMF conditionalities, and since the president has said that covid-19 is no more, the people think it should be abolished and give them some relief.
” When citizens begin to refuse to pay tax, this should tell you that, they (citizens) don’t see any benefit from the taxes they have been paying so it becomes unnecessary to continue paying tax, again the level of corruption among government appointees and high government expenditure in the country sometimes discourages the citizens to be tax compliance”
Meanwhile, a lawmaker for the North Tongu constituency in the Volta Region, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to be sensitive to the sufferings of his electorates.
This was in reaction to the president’s address to the nation on Sunday, May 28, 2023, where he lifted all COVID-19 restrictions and proclaimed an end to the disease as a health emergency.
But the lawmaker has expressed worry that throughout the 37-minutes-long address of Akufo-Addo, there was no hint of scrapping the burdening COVID-19 levy and the E-levy, due to the IMF bailout.
In a Facebook post, the MP stated that “Ghanaians expected President Akufo-Addo to have announced the scrapping of the unjustifiable COVID-19 levy as he lifts all covid restrictions.
“Ghanaians also expected the awful E-Levy to be abolished since his government has opted for an IMF bailout.”
Ablakwa also pleaded with President Akufo-Addo to be sincere and sensitive to the sufferings of Ghanaians in these hard times.
“President Akufo-Addo must be sincere and sensitive to the plight of suffering Ghanaians,” he stated.
The MP for North Tongu also emphasized the need for lawmakers to unite to remove the COVID-19 and E-levies to address the plights of Ghanaians.
“I hope all parliamentarians will come together in the national interest, and take advantage of the mid-year budget review to expunge those two obsolete taxes.
“As President Akufo-Addo continues to let Ghanaians down, Parliament cannot afford to fail. May we be the people’s saving grace,” he added.
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