The Minister of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto has urged farmers and Ghanaians as a whole to embrace the government’s proposed electronic levy (E-levy) aimed at raising billions of cedis to boost the economy.
During the presentation of the 2022 budget statement last month, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta introduced the new taxation scheme to mobilise funds. He told Parliament that a huge chunk of the proceeds will support entrepreneurship.
According to Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the introduction of the e-levy would help the Akufo-Addo administration to raise money to support farmers in the country thus should be supported.
Dr. Afriyie Akoto made the assertion when he visited one of the government’s-built warehouses at Gambaga in the North East Region on his first-day visit to the region as part of his 13-day tour of the northern sector.
“There are two markets in Ghana; the subsidized fertilizer market, which is the planting for foods and jobs, and the commercial or open market for anyone who wants to buy. These two markets have existed side by side, but because the subsidized fertilizer market was so big, there was very little for the open market. Now with the price increases on the open market, we are also facing problems with revenue collection in Ghana and everywhere else because international trades have also shrunk.”
“We get most of our government revenue from international trade – imports and exports. That is why it’s become necessary for this government to look for alternative sources of revenue to close the gap, hence the introduction of the electronic levy. The opposition (NDC) is making the electronic levy a big issue. What they don’t realize is that it’s affecting other areas. So if we are to remove the levy, where are we going to find the money to give subsidies to farmers? There would be nothing,” he said.
Source: TheBBCghana.Com
