Members of Parliament will begin discussing the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, which was delivered by the Finance Minister a week, today, Tuesday, November 23, 2021.
The discussion is set to conclude on Friday, November 26, 2021.
On Wednesday, November 17, 2021, the Minister of Finance presented the 2022 budget to Parliament, outlining numerous strategies and initiatives for how the government wants to boost revenue and job development in the fiscal year 2022.
The budget declaration said, among other things, that the government wants to collect income by imposing a 1.75 percent charge on all electronic transactions.
There will also be a 15% increase in the cost of all government services beginning next year.
In addition, the Minister of Finance announced the launch of a GHS 1 billion ‘YouStart’ project to generate employment for the youth.
While the majority caucus feels the budget represents Ghanaians’ demands and vital steps for encouraging economic development, the opposition caucus believes the budget would impose immeasurable pain on the already suffering masses.
For example, Isaac Adongo, the Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, has slammed the administration in the aftermath of the implementation of additional taxes and revisions to fees and levies.
He argues that the upward adjustments and imposition of additional taxes are best seen as a handy solution to clean Ghana’s muddled economy.
“When the government was borrowing, and we told them to slow down, they ignored it. Today, they are spending 113 percent of the tax collected to pay interest servicing. So they are not taxing us because they want to build roads, schools or because we are going to get drinking water. They are taxing us to pay for their mess”, he said in a Citi News interview.
Haruna Iddrisu, Minority Leader, has also said that the caucus would vote against the 1.75 percent e-levy.
The tax, he claims, is a deterrent to investment and private-sector growth.
“Our concern is whether the e-levy itself will not be a disincentive to the growth of a digital economy in our country. We are convinced that the e-levy may as well even be a disincentive to investments and private sector development in our country… We in the Minority will not support the government with the introduction of that e-levy. We are unable to build a national consensus on that particular matter,” he said at the post-budget workshop in Ho on Saturday, November 20, 2021.
Read Also: Facebook and Instagram encryption plans delayed by Meta until 2023
