President John Dramani Mahama has formally scrapped the controversial COVID-19 Health Recovery Levy after assenting to the Repeal Act on Wednesday, December 10, 2025.
By signing the law, the President fulfilled a key campaign pledge to end the 1 per cent levy, which was introduced after the pandemic to recover COVID-related expenditure but remained in force years after the health crisis had eased.
Mahama described the move as a response to widespread public dissatisfaction with what he said was an unnecessary tax on citizens.
The repeal comes on the back of Parliament’s passage of a new Value Added Tax Bill that restructures Ghana’s VAT regime, officially removing the COVID levy and easing tax pressures on businesses and households.
Government estimates the abolition of the levy will return billions of cedis to the economy, reduce the cost of doing business, and support job creation, while restoring confidence among consumers and investors.
The Ghana Revenue Authority is expected to roll out public education nationwide ahead of the full implementation of the new VAT measures.
