Kwame A Plus, a political activist and a musician, has taken on the Communication and Digitalisation Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, for lying about a 10% digital service tax in the UK.

The minister at a Townhall meeting on the government’s controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy) in Koforidua said, the 1.7% E-levy is the lowest rate for any tax in Ghana.

She added, for other countries like the UK, they are paying 10% digital service taxes.

"E-levy is being introduced at the lowest rate for any tax in Ghana, comparatively at 1.75%. Less than 2%. In other countries, digital taxes are being introduced at the rate of up to 10%, and they're paying. That's the UK," Ursula Owusu-Ekuful told the people of Koforidua.

Checks by the GhanaWeb FactCheck desk revealed that, the minister’s claims were completely false.

According to gov.uk, from April 1, 2020, the government introduced a new 2% tax on the revenues of search engines, social media services, and online marketplaces which derive value from UK users.

By this tax, businesses would be liable to the Digital Services Tax when their worldwide revenues from these digital activities are more than £500 million and more than £25 million of these revenues are derived from UK users.

Additionally, the DST will ensure that there was an allowance of £25 million, which means a company's first £25 million of revenues derived from UK users will not be subject to Digital Services Tax.

Reacting to this, A Plus described the minister as “Christopher Columbus” in a post on his Facebook timeline. He shared various reports of the minister’s claim and the FactCheck done and wrote that she [Ursula Owusu-Ekuful] has been caught pants down.

"Christopher Columbus is a woman in Ghana and she has been caught pants down!!" his post read.

About the E-levy

On November 17, 2021, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, announced the introduction of a 1.75% tax on all electronic transactions during the 2022 budget presentation before parliament.

According to him, this new directive forms part of strategies to widen the country’s tax net.

He added that the 1.75% tax is also to enhance financial inclusion and protect the vulnerable in the country.

The E-levy since its announcement by the Finance Minister has received public backlash from some Ghanaians especially Members of Parliament from the Minority Caucus.

At a recent press conference, the Minister outlined a number of modifications to the Bill and announced that the government continued to engage stakeholders on the bill ahead of resubmission before MPs.

Source: Ghanaweb