A leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Gabby Otchere Darko has said that the report on the e-levy proposal has been adopted by the Finance Committee of Parliament.
According to him, the Finance Committee of Parliament has closed its meeting on the e-levy proposal. The report is now heading to the floor of the House for a decision to be taken on it by plenary.
In a tweet, Gabby said “The news is that the Finance Committee of Parliament has just closed their meeting on e-levy and the report adopted. It shall now go to the floor of the House.”
For his part, a former Deputy Minister of Information, Felix Kwakye Ofosu said “ALL 12 Minority MPs on Parliament’s Finance Committee voted against the E-Levy Bill when it was brought for consideration. All 137 Minority MPs are set to vote against it at Plenary.”
Parliament on Friday December 17 passed the appropriation bill but did not consider the E-levy.
The consideration of the e-levy was shifted to today Monday.
The introduction of the levy met resistance from the opposition lawmakers in Parliament.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said that his side in Parliament would not support the policy proposal because it serves as a disincentive for the growth of digital economy.
Speaking at a post-budget workshop in Ho on Saturday November 20, he said “Mr Speaker, understandably, we see that the Minister of Finance seeks to introduce some measures including the now popularly declared e-levy or digital levy as some have quite named it.
“Mr Speaker, our concern is whether the e-levy itself is not and will not be a disincentive to the growth of digital economy in our country. We are convinced that the e-levy may as well even be a disincentive to investment and a disincentive to private sector development in our country. We in the minority may not and will not support government with the introduction of that particular e-levy . We are unable to build national consensus on that particular matter.”
By Laud Nartey|editors.3news.com|Ghana
