Private legal practitioner, Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe
Taxing MoMo will move people away from using electronic transactions
Savings is not taxed, Edudzi Tamakloe
Ghana moving to a cash-heavy society, Legal luminary
Private legal practitioner, Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, has stated that monies in savings accounts do not qualify to be taxed.
He said monies in wallets, under pillows, are categorized under savings and not income, hence, the need for it to be tax-free.
Speaking on Joy New’s Newsfile programme over the weekend, the legal luminary said, “We (NDC) have also made the point that when money is in your wallet, it is as good as money under your pillow, it is savings. Nowhere on earth is savings taxed. We do not tax savings it is not income. So, to suggest that by moving your salary into your momo (mobile money) wallet, you are going to pay for it, when you transfer that money to your mother inside the village you are going to pay for it, is wrong.”
Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe noted that government’s move to introduce electronic transactions levy (e-levy) will halt its decision to have a cash lite society.
“This is a government that says they moving the country into a digital economy and that they want this economy to be cash lite and not cash heavy in terms of how we manage our transactions. If you are going to tax people’s ‘MoMo’, what you are basically doing is to serve as a disincentive for people to use electronic means of transitions,” he said.
He noted that the minority in parliament is poised to oppose the e-levy bill before parliament.
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