Government wants to tax mobile money transactions – Minority raises red flag

The Minority in Parliament is pushing government to immediately shelve any plans to tax mobile money transactions. Describing the move as “retrogressive”, Minority also said the tax will affect millions of low-income families.

“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,” Cassiel Ato Forson, Minority spokesperson on finance said on Monday.

Addressing a ’roundtable breakfast discussion on 2018 budget and economic outlook’ on behalf of the Minority NDC, he accused government of trying to introduce some “nuisance” tax to meet its ambitious revenue target in order to fund campaign promises.

Cassiel Ato Forson Ato Forson, who is a former deputy finance minister, remarked, “it is an indirect way of taxing transactions such as transfers for school fees and mobile monies, medical bills in particular…” He charged the NPP-led government to rather provide relief to low-income families from this “chop money income transfer tax”.

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