Gemayel Hails Tax Law Repeal as 'Constitutional Revolution against Shady Deals'

Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel on Friday hailed as a “constitutional revolution” a Constitutional Council ruling that annulled a tax law aimed at funding a new wage scale for civil servants and the armed forces.

Describing the decision as “historic,” Gemayel congratulated the Lebanese people on their “struggle” and thanked the MPs who had joined him in signing the appeal that was lodged with the Council.

“What happened was more than a Constitutional Council ruling and bigger than a repeal of unjust taxes,” Gemayel said at a press conference.

“It was a constitutional revolution against the approach of shady deals and closed-door rooms, seeing as respect for the Constitution was restored thanks to the opposition, people and the public opinion,” the young lawmaker added.

“They will now have to pass the state budget, because according to the Constitution, it is

unacceptable to spend without a budget,” Gemayel said.

The MP reassured that the ruling class “can no longer take money from people's pockets to fund the wage scale” because they will be obliged to “carry out studies.”

Gemayel, however, noted that the ruling class is obliged to pay the wage scale to its beneficiaries.

“The new wage scale is a right for public employees and you must exert utmost efforts to stop corruption and the waste of public funds, and anything other than this would be intimidation,” the MP added.

He also noted that the treasury has enough funds to finance the wage scale in 2017 and 2018 thanks to taxes on the extraordinary gains achieved by banks under the Central Bank's latest swap operation.