|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The New Patriotic (NPP) Member of Parliament for Tolon in the Northern Region, Habib Iddrisu, has called on both the Majority and Minority to approve the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government presented to the House by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta on Wednesday, 17th November, 2021.
The Member, speaking in support of the motion on the floor of the House during the debate urged both sides of the House, especially his colleagues in the Minority to think of the nation’s development and vote for the 2022 budget.
The Tolon MP who also doubles as the 2nd Deputy Majority Chief Whip in his contribution asked his colleagues to read through the budget statement well and explain to their constituents the good things the Akufo-Addo government wants to bring to Ghanaians.
“Mr. Speaker, I think this budget is the best budget that we can ever have and am urging my colleagues that if you want to know the truth, consult your constituents ask them what to do, and explain the budget to them and explain what it contains,” he said.
“Mr. Speaker sometimes it baffles me that we are here to represent our people, and we are here to make sure that we speak, we make laws to be able to bring development to our constituents, where we have bad roads in our constituencies, youth have finished school, entrepreneurs trying to survive, when this budget contains the YouStart. It contains the YouStart, which will be useful to young business people to start up their own businesses in your constituency, and you want to reject such a budget.”
According to Mr. Iddrisu, this is the best economic policy that any nation, any government can prepare to develop and create jobs for its teeming youth.
On the controversial E-Levy which is contained in the budget, Mr. Iddirsu said, it will be better for the money to remain and used in developing the nation than to be taken away by the foreign telecommunication companies.
He noted that, out of 30.8 million Ghanaians, only 10% pay taxes on their business.
Breaking it down, the Deputy Chief Whip said, “Mr. Speaker when you look at Ghana at the moment, we have 30.8 million Ghanaians, and out of that less than 10% of Ghanaians pay tax, 2.4 million persons are registered for personal income as at August 2021, 45,109 entities are registered as cooperate tax, while 54,364 persons are registered.”
He added that, “Mr. Speaker, out of 30.8 million Ghanaians, less than 10% are paying the tax, so the question we ask ourselves is, do that less than the 10% have to carry the burden of the over 30 million Ghanaians, No. And when you don’t understand the E-Levy, you don’t come to argue that it is a bad tax, No.”
According to him, the E-levy is very easy to understand, and those who don’t understand should not argue that it’s a bad tax, but rather seek for explanation.
Explaining, he said the government is not going to tax everything but certain services and that will broaden the tax net for the state to make more revenue for development.
“Transferring money from your custom bank account to your own MoMo you will not be taxed, if you are going to send less than GH¢100, you are not going to be taxed. Then what is the point of telling our constituents that we don’t need to be taxed, we don’t need a levy and other things to be able to develop this economy,” he queried?
Mr. Speaker, “If I send a MoMo now, am charged GH¢1 per every GH¢100, and in other circumstances, when the one who is going to receive, if am sending GH¢200, I pay GH¢2 to send the money, and the receiver, even though it has been explained that we don’t have to pay, but in certain circumstances, they are ask to pay GH¢2 on the money that you have sent. So let me ask, where is that GH¢2 going?
He continued, “And you don’t have problem with that? When government is charging 1.75% to fix your roads, to create jobs, to be able to make sure that Free SHS is looked after, to be able to make sure that Planting for Food and Jobs work, to be able to make sure that 1District 1Warehouse works, what is the case, so are you saying that we should rather be happy to send or pay GH¢2 to the telecos for free which will go out of the country, than paying the money to be in our country for development?”
—
Source: www.frontpageghana.com/Ghana
