Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has asked the minority in Parliament to focus on how government is going utilize funds generated from the controversial E-levy.
This statement by the majority leader comes after government approved the E-levy despite a walkout staged by the Members of Parliament from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) side.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday March 29 after the approval of the E-levy, the Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu mentioned that the purpose of this E-levy is really to broaden the tax base of our country and to increase revenue mobilization domestically.
“The purpose of this bill that we have gone through is really to broaden the tax base of our country and to increase revenue mobilization domestically.
Read Also: E-Levy passed as Minority MPs walk out of Parliament
“I am not too sure that anyone of us in Parliament, Minority or Majority, will disagree that where we are as a country, we need to look inwards to see if it will be possible for us to increase revenue streams from within our own household, which is what the E-levy seeks to do.
“The matters that should really confront us as members of Parliament is what we are going to apply the monies on. The bill provides that we are going to apply it to the development of physical infrastructure, which is number one,” Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu told press men.
The minority leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, has however described the approval as a charade.
According to Haruna Iddrisu the Majority did not have the right numbers to pass the E-levy.
“This is a charade,” he said at a press conference in Parliament, adding that “there is no E-levy. The majority of less than 137 conducting businesses only proceeded on illegal and unconstitutional business. Parliament did not have the numbers to take any decision that should binding Parliament and Ghanaians,” Haruna Iddrisu said at a press conference.
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