The Economic Fighters League has bemoaned the hardship Ghanaians are being compelled to endure due to the high cost of living in the country.
In a statement signed by the Fighter-General, Hardi Yakubu on May Day on Saturday, the group encouraged all workers across the country to rise up and reclaim their economic power.
According to the statement, the day cannot be a happy day when “new taxes and levies are also coming into force.”
He further added that, “there will be an increment in Value Added Tax which will affect the prices of all goods and services. Levies and margins have been added to the petroleum price build-up leading to astronomical increases in the prices of fuel products, at least six (6) times in 2021 alone.”
Below is the statement from the group
As a radical Nkrumaist movement whose mission is to bring down economic exploitation,
which is robbing the people of their economic freedom and to erect one that serves all the
people, the group called “on all trade unions in the country to take active stance against the
oppressive system and make bold attempts to push for fundamental changes that will ensure
the equitable distribution of our national resources.”
The March 12, 2021 budget as presented to parliament by the then caretaker Finance
Minister, Honourable Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu contained three new and two amended tax
policies or levies, of which two of the policies were implemented effective yesterday, May 1,
2021.
The five tax levies introduced include the Energy Sector Levy (Amendment) Act, 2021 (Act
1064), Income Tax (Amendment) Act, 2021 (Act 1066), Financial Sector Recovery Levy Act, 2021
(Act 1067), Penalty and Interest Waiver Act, 2021 (Act 1065) and the COVID-19 Health Recovery
Levy Act, 2021 (Act 1068).
The two levies implemented yesterday are the Energy Sector Levy (Amendment) Act, 2021 (Act 1064) and the COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy Act, 2021 (Act 1068).
The Energy Sector levy, the Ghana Revenue Authority explained last month that it contains
two levies namely the Energy Sector Recovery Levy and the Sanitation and Pollution Levy which
consist “The imposition of an Energy Sector Recovery Levy of ¢0.20 pesewas per litre of
petrol/diesel and 18 pesewas per kg on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and the imposition of a
Sanitation and Pollution Levy of ¢0.10 pesewas per litre of petrol and diesel respectively.”
This the group says is a duplicate of an existing act, the Energy Sector Levy Act which also seek to achieve the intended purpose of this new Energy Sector levy.
The COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy, the GRA explained it will also “impose a one per cent
levy on the supply of goods and services made in the country other than exempt goods or
services; and import of goods and services other than exempt imports.”