Finance Committee Suspends 2% Tax on Imported Items
The finance parliamentary committee on Monday suspended a draft state budget article pertaining to imposing a 2% tax on imported items.
“Article 63 has been suspended pending a new text that takes into consideration the suggestions of the MPs and the finance minister on excluding daily-use consumer goods,” committee head MP Ibrahim Kanaan said.
Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil reminded in remarks to MTV that that the tax is aimed at “lowering deficit and protecting national products.”
Hizbullah, the AMAL Movement and the Marada Movement had voiced reservations over the article when it was discussed in Cabinet.
Another nail in the Cedre-coffin. Lebanon is simply not able to live up to the demands of the donors. Economic meltdown is a real possibility.
Good. I hope they don't get a single penny from CEDRE. Not that they were going to spend it wisely. They have not implemented any meaningful reform. They have not cut the bureaucracy, they have not cut waste in government spending, there's no plan for privatization, etc... The only thing they did was tax here and tax there, increase tax rate on this item and that item. That's not reform, that's tax and spend.
It's time once and for all to declare officially that Lebanon is a failed state.