Economist and administrator Professor Stephen Adei Mensah has stated that removing the Electronic Levy (E-Levy) would be a mistake, arguing that taxation should be rationalized rather than scrapped outright.
Speaking on TV3’s Agenda monitored by MyNewsGH, he explained that while some taxes are difficult to collect, eliminating them entirely is not the best approach.
“Some of the taxes are even difficult to collect, and therefore, those are the ones we must look at,” he stated.
Addressing calls to scrap certain levies, he insisted that a more effective strategy would be to consolidate some taxes while maintaining an effective tax rate.
“Rationalizing means that some of them will be eliminated, some will be kept, and some consolidated.
“But the effective tax rate is what you aim at. In other words, when all of them are together, then you will say the average tax rate will be about 20%—that’s reasonable.
“But in this case, some are paying cumulatively about 45%, while others are paying nothing because we cannot find them,” he explained.
Professor Adei Mensah further emphasized that removing the E-Levy would not necessarily alleviate economic burdens, noting that taxation should be approached with a broader view.
“For example, I have always felt that it is wrong to remove the E-Levy. It is wrong. It is wrong,” he stressed.
While acknowledging public dissatisfaction with the levy, he argued that economic impact should take precedence over protests.
“What they will protest against and what it impacts on the economy are different,” he added.
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