A professor at the University of Ghana Business School, Patrick Asuming has said that the e-levy must be removed with or without the reintroduction of road tolls.
He described the e-levy as a bad tax
Prof Asuming is however suspicious of the intention of the government to bring back road tolls.
He said the government made similar comments in the past about bringing back some abolished levies but that did not materialize hence his doubts.
“The e-levy is a bad tax that should be removed with or without the road tolls. I am very suspicious that these road tolls will be back. In 2023 they stated that they were going to bring back some tolls that were removed but we didn’t hear anything about it. Now you are saying this.
“I am not sure there is a real intention to bring back the road tolls. It was a bad idea to remove the road tolls,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, July 27.
The government is looking forward to bring back the road toll after its cessation in 2021.
The Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam disclosed that Cabinet has approved a framework established to facilitate the process of the reintroduction of the tolls in 2025.
The Minister made this statement while presenting the mid-year budget review in Parliament on Tuesday, July 23.
Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in June this year stated that road tolls must return to improve road infrastructure in the country.
He indicated that the government currently lacks the necessary funding for infrastructure development and suggested that innovative solutions, such as road tolling, could offer a viable solution.
“Let us go back to a system of broad-based road tolls. The tolling system has to come back, and I think it will come back.
“It is a fundamental mistake of the government to place all road projects on the budget. The government doesn’t have enough money and the private sector has to be brought in,” he noted.
Government canceled road toll collections in 2021 after introducing the e-levy which government said was to substitute the road tolls.
However, the e-levy has failed to live up to its promise prompting government to bring back the tolls in 2025.
