How much are you going to earn from content creators you want to tax? – Kwadwo Sheldon quizzes government

YouTuber Kwadwo Sheldon has said that it is unfavourable for the government to tax content creators in the country considering that the creative economy is in its budding stages. According to him, Ghanaian content creators face challenges monetising their content on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and others.

He said that despite having many social media platforms, Ghanaian content creators only make earnings on YouTube, where although income is assured, it is not as much as people anticipate. Speaking to BBC’s Daniel Dadzie, Kwadwo Sheldon said “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.”

“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, he explained.

Contrary to popular belief, Kwadwo Sheldon said that content creators although previously did not pay direct tax on earnings, paid other taxes regardless. Additionally, creators who have employed others pay them and ensure that their taxes are filed, he stated.

“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.”

“When you go to Nigeria recently, their government talked 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,” Kwadwo Sheldon noted. In 2023, the GRA announced that it was expanding its tax collection base to include influencers, bloggers, content creators, MCs and others.

The GRA said that the country’s income tax law mandates all income earners to file their taxes and these included bloggers, brand influencers, content creators and others. However, Kwadwo Sheldon indicated that if the government is insistent on increasing revenue, they could reduce their expenditure rather than go after creators who have little earnings. Content creators’ earnings, he believes, when taxed will not make a dent in the revenue pool.

“How much are you going to earn from the content creators that you want to tax that badly? How much? Tell me. Even the E-Levy that they introduced, they came to tell us that the money that they expected to make from, they didn’t make it,” Kwadwo Sheldon added.

The Youtuber called on the government to follow in Ghana’s neighbours’ footsteps and talk to owners of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to open up the space for their earnings to increase.

“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 Shelson added.

💼 Types of Income: The Income Tax Act, 2015 (Act 896) outlines various types of income, including employment income, business income, rental income, capital gains, brand influencers, Blogging and more. All of these may be subject to taxation.

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— GRA (@GhanaRevenue) September 25, 2023

By: Nasiba Yakubu