Government is Stealing from Ghanaians with Momo Tax

The reality of the Momo Tax is that the government of the day is using it to steal from Ghanaians per transaction. If you transfer your money from your Momo wallet into your bank account, you are charged Momo Tax. The next time you move the funds to your Momo wallet, the government charges you the same tax again.

If you now transfer the already-taxed money to a family member or another person, the money is taxed again. Indirectly, the Momo tax is being used to steal from Ghanaians, and the tax goes beyond taxing the same fund twice.

The annoying issue is that even though you have linked your Ghana card to your bank account, the money is charged Momo tax, whether it is a deposit or a withdrawal. The government is stealing from Ghanaians with the Momo Tax as it keeps charging tax on the same money each time it is transferred.

The use of mobile money is truly expensive now if you do a careful analysis of the amount you pay as Momo tax at the end of each month. The taxing of our Momo wallets is killing us slowly.

Imagine this scenario:

You deposited GHS2000.00 into your bank account yesterday and had GHS200.00 in your Momo wallet as your balance. You will be charged GHS20.00 for the deposit.

Then, today, you made a cash out of GHS 1500.00 from your bank account. This time again, you are charged a tax of not less than GHS14.00 from your bank account if that is your first transfer from the bank to Momo, or GHS15.00 if you have made at least a GHS100.00 transaction in the day before that.

In addition to the GHS10.00 that MTN will deduct when you decide to cash out the GHS1500.00 from a MoMo vendor, you must pay a tax of GHS15.00 on the GHS1500.00.

By withdrawing GHS1500, you have paid the same tax three times. By just moving GHS2000.00 from Momo to your bank and back, the government charges your GHS20+GHS15+GHS15 = GHS50.00.

One of the ways to avoid this Momo tax is to examine the cost involved in moving your money from Momo to the bank and vice versa and compare it to going to the bank to make a deposit or withdrawal.

Transportation from your house to the nearest bank should cost less than GHS50.00. If the money you are withdrawing from your bank to Momo is so much and you are not in a hurry to get that money to your Momo wallet for spending, you are better off visiting the banking hall.

Again, withdraw your funds in large sums and keep cash on you. Cshing out each time you need money from your bank to your Momo wallet to spend may look convenient, but it is very expensive and drains your funds.

Often, you are unable to withdraw from your bank account to your Momo wallet because the amount you want to withdraw will not allow the government to sneak into your bank account in the name of Momo Tax to charge you the tax.

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The Momo tax is such that, each time you are sending money, it will prevent you from sending it once the tax cannot be deducted along with the amount instantly.