The Economic Fighters League has bemoaned the hardship on Ghanaian citizens due to increased cost of living.

In a statement signed by the Fighter-General, Hardi Yakubu, the group called the 2021 May Day a day of hardship and oppression. The statement 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.”

To buttress why the day is not a happy one, the statement further read, “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:

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 groups 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.”