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Some residents in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region say the passage of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) bill into law will negatively affect their businesses.

The residents, therefore, called on the Government to drop the bill and find alternative means to raise money to support the economy as the people were already saddled with other taxes.

The residents, in a random interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga, said the levy would especially affect the poor and less privileged in the rural areas, who received little monies from relatives and friends for their upkeep.

The Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, on November 17, 2021, proposed a 1.75 percent E-Levy on electronic transactions above Gh¢100.00 per day for mobile money transfers in the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament.

The Minister said the E-Levy, which was intended to widen the tax net to include the informal sector and reduce public debt, would cover Mobile Money (MoMo) transactions, bank transfers, merchant payments and inward remittances.

This move by government did not go down well with some sections of the public, generating several discourses that resulted in the ‘Yentua’ demonstration, literally meaning “We won’t pay”, by the National Democratic Congress.

A Momo vendor at the National Investment Bank area, Mr Jefferson Akantinaba, told the GNA that some residents had started withdrawing their monies upon the announcement of the introduction of the E-Levy.

“Some people have started withdrawing their monies because they think if the E-Levy is introduced, there will be more charges, and they cannot afford. My colleagues and I think that the Government should not introduce the levy, else our businesses will collapse,” Mr Akantinaba said.

Madam Jemila Malik, another vendor, said she took time to explain to her customers discussions on the levy were still ongoing, and that it was not yet implemented, “but some do not believe and will simply ask me to withdraw their monies for them.”

She said patronage of her on MoMo service had drastically reduced as compared to the time when government had not proposed the E-levy.

Mr Bukari Issah, an Auto Electrician, said: “This levy will affect those of us who earn little monies daily and transfer some to our old parents in the village for their upkeep. In fact, the authorities should cancel this E-levy thing, so we all have our peace.”

Some other market women in the Bolgatanga main market told the GNA that though they did not fully understand the conversation around the E-levy, once they had to pay extra charges through MoMo transactions for goods and services, they were against its introduction.