Following the controversial passing of the Electronic Transfer levy (E-levy), the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mark Okraku Mantey, has called on the government to now focus on some online companies.
He claimed that online operations such as YouTube, Bolt Food, and others where people generate revenue from, have the potential to provide revenue to fund government projects.
In an interview with GTV in Accra, he stated that in order for Ghana to thrive, citizens must give their fair share through taxes.
Mr. Mantey supports the E-Levy because he believes skilled workers in the informal sector, such as Masons, Carpenters, and others, do not pay any direct taxes on their earnings, but are quick to complain about poor infrastructure, poor road networks, and a slew of other issues that he cannot comprehend.
He claims that the E-Levy will assist SMEs to continue doing business for long, and help the country tax Ghanaian YouTubers, vloggers, and bloggers who earn money through social media and other online activities.
“So I ask myself, how do we fix these things that make you complain about what you do not contribute. Again, the small business enterprise comes up in a few years, and they collapse because they are overloaded with some taxes so why don’t we expand the scope to help reduce the corporate Ghana of taxes, so we can distribute it such that you don’t overload the few who have agreed to pay for it”.
“My creative people are selling on YouTube, iTunes, Bolt Food, Uber, people are now buying clothes online, are they paying anything to the government? No, I think after the MOMO, we need to go heavily online to see what we can get from there” he added.
