Cuts International, a consumer advocacy group, has urged the government to avoid burdening Ghanaians with both the road tolls and the Electronic Transfer Levy (e-levy) simultaneously.
The government during its mid-year budget presentation, announced plans to reintroduce road and bridge tolls in 2025.
This is in addition to the continued collection of the E-levy, which is partly intended to address issues with Ghana’s roads.
Appiah Kusi Adomako, the West African director of Cuts International, voiced his concerns in an interview with Citi News in Accra.
He questioned whether the generated revenue would be used for its intended purposes and highlighted the additional tax burden this would place on Ghanaians.
“By putting the E-Levy at the same time with the road toll I think there will be a lot of taxes on Ghanaians. Of course, we do understand the crisis we find ourselves in as a nation. We are currently in an IMF emergency room where we need all the oxygen of taxes to resuscitate the economy.
“But the question I also want to ask ourselves is that the revenue that is going to accrue from the new road tolls is going to find its way in fixing and maintaining roads that will be good enough. But I am a bit doubtful because already when you buy fuel I think about 0.5p of litre that you buy at the pump goes to the road fund and that road fund is not being used to fix the potholes and gullies that are on our roads.”
“So, I think the government is trying to use all means to collect money but if the money that the government is collecting will in the long run fix what they want to collect then that is fine. But the government should not use creative means to collect money from Ghanaians because it needs money to balance inputs,” he stated.