Nicolas Chammas, president of the Beirut Traders Association and general secretary of the Lebanese Economic Organization warned of a new batch of taxes prepared "in secret" that could aggravate the economic burden on the private sector and affect the whole Lebanese, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.
“A large bunch of new taxes is being secretly prepared,” Chammas told the daily, noting that the private sector plans to retaliate against government practices of “liquidation” of the private sector.
He raised fears that the 2020 state budget could include new taxes that will affect the whole Lebanese.
Chammas called on the government to adopt economic realism in its approach to the crisis. He said: “Providing the dollar to the basic sectors like fuel, flour and medicine is required, but it is not a solution but a crisis management, or mitigating the reality of the crisis and providing a minimum of social security."
Chammas said the economic situation is not reassuring, stressing that the crisis is in fact a “financial” one.
He said the budget deficit, and the “swelling” in the public sector leads Lebanon to bankruptcy.
On the wage scale, he said Lebanon made a “historic sin” against the Lebanese treasury and society through what he said was a “random” salary scale approved in the wrong place and time with incorrect estimate of its outcome.
However, Chammas noted that solutions still exist through “political consensus focusing on the priorities mainly addressing the massive budget deficit.”
Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/265271 |