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Minority kicks against mobile money transactions tax

By Maame Aba Afful
Minority in Parliament
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The Minority in Parliament has cautioned government to immediately abandon any plans to tax mobile money transactions.

The minority argues that the tax if introduced will affect millions of low-income families, hence it is rather retrogressive.

Speaking at the budget review forum Monday, the minority spokesperson said: “The intention to tax mobile money transaction must be abolished immediately since it constitutes a serious threat to financial inclusion and economic growth in Ghana,”.

NDC Finance spokesperson, Cassiel Ato Forson, further accused the government of trying to introduce some “nuisance” taxes to meet its ambitious revenue target in order to fund campaign promises.

He added, “it is an indirect way of taxing transactions such as transfers of school fees and mobile monies, medical bills in particular…”

“This is nothing more than a backdoor move to re-introduce the taxes they removed [under the 2017 budget],” he explained. According to him, the business community is already “wailing under heavy and cumbersome tax” imposed on them by government.

Ahead of the 2018 budget presentation by the Finance Minister on Wednesday, the NDC has chastised the NPP government's mode of managing the economy, claiming that next year will be full of severe hardships.

They have also disproved government's bid to focus on job creation saying, How can you create jobs when the when the real sector, the non-oil GDP, is projected to grow in 2018 almost at the same level as 2016?”.

“We believe that unfortunately, government economic policy for 2018 will bring about severe hardship and Ghanaians must be well informed”.

Read also:  1983 famine likely to repeat next year- Minority predicts

www.primenewsghana.com/ Ghana News

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