Ghana’s e-levy is unfair to the poor and misses its revenue target: a lesson in mobile money tax design

By Mike Rogan, Associate Professor, Rhodes University
Max Gallien, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies
Nana Akua Anyidoho, Associate Professor & Director, Centre for Social Policy Studies, University of Ghana
Vanessa van den Boogaard, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies

In May 2022, the government in Ghana introduced a deeply unpopular tax on mobile money transactions, known as the e-levy. When it was introduced, the levy was structured as a 1.5% charge on all electronic and mobile money transactions over 100 cedis per day.

The e-levy was designed to raise more money for the government by extracting larger tax contributions from Ghana’s informal sector. About 90%…

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