Popular Ghanaian YouTuber, Kwadwo Sheldon has disagreed with government’s plan to tax Ghanaians who earn foreign income.
Few months ago, the Ghana Revenue Agency (GRA) revealed plans to tax Ghanaians who earn foreign income.
The tax if implemented will target content creators and influencers in Ghana who make money on global platforms like YouTube, X, Snapchat etc.
Speaking in an interview with BBC’s Daniel Dadzie, Sheldon said such a move by the government will be unfavourable to the content creating space.
He explained that content creators are already finding it difficult to monetise their content on some platforms like Facebook, Instagram and others.
Sheldon stressed that Ghanaian content creators do not earn as much because there are certain taxes and deductions made by the platforms even before their final income.
He noted that government will only rake in a meagre revenue if it goes ahead with its plan.
“For me, it is unfavourable to us…We are building, it’s not buoyant yet. So if you keep taxing us, how much are we going to earn at the end of the day? Also, I am in a space and when you go to Social Blade, you see the average earnings of every creator. Not every content creator you see getting views on Facebook is breaking bread or is breaking even.
“Now, even before the YouTube money comes in, they will take their own. The US government will take their own. At the end of the day, let’s say you earn $1,000 a month, you will be walking home with $500,” he explained.
Contrary to the perception that content creators do not pay taxes, Sheldon said content creators paid taxes through other alternatives like advertising for brands.
He added that content creators who have also employed others ensure that their employees file their taxes.
“We have people that we work with, when we pay them they file their personal taxes and we make sure it is paid. When we make money from brands, they take a VAT, everything. So it’s not like we are not paying. We are paying and you are introducing more. So at the end of the day, what you get is a paltry sum.”
🚨ICYMI🇬🇭🗣️🇬🇧: Ghanaian Content Creator Kwadwo Sheldon speaks to BBC World News about GRA’s reported intention to tax digital content creators.
“How much are you gonna to earn from the content creators that you wanna tax so bad?”
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📹: @iAmDanielDadzie pic.twitter.com/2GRGsGUV3h— Ölele | DTS👨🏾🍳🇬🇭 (@OleleSalvador) May 14, 2024
According to Sheldon, government must a take a cue from Nigeria and Kenya by talking to platforms like Facebook and others to allow monetization in Ghana in order to increase their earnings before it can tax content creators.
“When you go to Nigeria recently, their government liased with the owners of Facebook to open up for their content creators to make money. Kenya, they did the same. What has our government done? Nothing.
“It will motivate them (content creators) to create, so that when they create and make the money you can come in for your bread. I am saying that we should be exempt from it, the creator economy is not buoyant enough,” Kwadwo Sheldon noted.
