The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has proposed taxing content creators in Ghana who receive foreign money from their online activities. Ghanaian YouTuber and content creator Kwadwo Sheldon has expressed his disagreement to this idea.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) declared in 2023 that it will tax anyone who make foreign revenue online, with a focus on influencers and content creators on popular international platforms like Snapchat, X [Twitter], YouTube, Instagram, and others.
All income earners in Ghana are required by law to file their taxes, including bloggers, brand influencers, content providers, and others, according to the GRA.
Kwadwo Sheldon voiced his concerns in an interview with BBC Africa, claiming that the levy will have a negative impact on the content development business, which is still expanding.
“For me, it is unfavourable to us… we are building, it is not buoyant yet. So if you keep taxing us, how much are we going to earn at the end of the day? Also, I am in a space and when you go to Social Blade, you see the average earnings of every creator. Not every content creator you see getting views on Facebook is breaking bread or is breaking even,” he stated.
“Now, even before the YouTube money comes in, they will take their own. The US government will take their own. At the end of the day, let’s say you earn $1,000 a month, you will be walking home with $500,” he added.
Sheldon contended that raising taxes would drastically lower content creators’ incomes and impede the sector’s expansion.
Sheldon clarified that although there is a misperception that content creators do not pay taxes, they do so through alternate channels like brand advertising.
In addition, he emphasized the significant taxes that have already been paid and the taxes that are incurred when paying personnel and working with brands.
“We have people that we work with, when we pay them they file their personal taxes and we make sure it is paid. When we make money from brands, they take a VAT, everything. So it’s not like we are not paying. We are paying and you are introducing more. So at the end of the day, what you get is a paltry sum,” he explained.
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Sheldon proposed that instead of enacting taxes, the government should negotiate with companies like Facebook to permit monetisation in Ghana, as Nigeria and Kenya have already done.
He emphasized that making monetisation possible would encourage content producers to produce more, which would eventually be advantageous to the government.
“When you go to Nigeria recently, their government liased with the owners of Facebook to open up for their content creators to make money. Kenya, they did the same. What has our government done? Nothing.
“It will motivate them (content creators) to create, so that when they create and make the money you can come in for your bread. I am saying that we should be exempt from it, the creator economy is not buoyant enough,” he said.
