Mobile Money Taxation and Informal Workers: Evidence from Ghana’s E-Levy
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Research in Brief 98
In recent years, more and more governments in lower income countries have been introducing taxes on mobile money transfers as a means to raise revenue. These are often explicitly promoted as a way of taxing informal economic activity, but critics point out their potential negative impact on lower-income groups. Ghana’s electronic transfer levy (E-levy), introduced in May 2022, is a particularly interesting case study. It was explicitly justified as a way of taxing Ghana’s informal economy but includes a 100 cedi ($8.80) per day threshold to limit the tax burden on lower-income groups. Using data from a new survey of 2,700 self-employed informal workers in the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) collected in April and May 2022, we examine the likely impact of the E-levy on informal workers from an equity standpoint (with reference to earnings, gender and occupational sector), and explore how this relates to how the levy is perceived.
Nana is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) and the Director of the Centre for Social Policy Studies (CSPS), both at the University of Ghana. Her research areas focus on social policy and social development.
Max Gallien is a Research Fellow at the ICTD. His research specialises in the politics of informal and illegal economies, the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa and development politics. He completed his PhD at the London School of Economics. Max co-leads the informality and taxation programme with Vanessa, as well as the ICTD’s capacity building programme.
Michael Rogan is a Research Associate in WIEGO’s Urban Policies Programme. His work centres on statistical analyses of earnings and status in employment in the informal economy, and he leads WIEGO’s research on taxation in the informal economy. Based at Rhodes University in South Africa, Michael works in the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics & Economic History. He holds a BA in international studies from the University of Washington in Seattle and an MA and PhD in development studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
Vanessa van den Boogaard is a Research Fellow at the ICTD and a Senior Research Associate at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She completed her PhD thesis on informal revenue generation and statebuilding in Sierra Leone, and has ongoing research on the topic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia. Vanessa leads the ICTD’s new programme on civil society engagement in tax reform and co-leads the research programme on informal taxation.
Citation: Anyidoho, N.A.; Gallien, M.; Rogan, M., and van den Boogaard, V. (2023) Mobile Money Taxation and Informal Workers: Evidence from Ghana’s E-Levy, ICTD Research in Brief 98, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies, DOI: 10.19088/ICTD.2023.047
