Bassil Satisfied With 'Unprecedented' Corporate, Banks, Property Taxes

Head of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said on Saturday that the state made a big achievement by imposing new taxes on big sectors in the economy that are able to bear the burden of new tax impositions

“We were able to make a big achievement by imposing taxes never imposed before on maritime and real estate property and on banks and corporate,” said Bassil after an extraordinary meeting held by the bloc against the backdrop of protests that thwarted a parliament's decision to impose a new batch of taxes to fund a long-stalled wage scale.

Referring to rumors that circulated on social media about a false list of taxes he said: “We ask the Lebanese people not to victims of rumors. The tax list circulated on social media is false.”

He added: “A large segment of the public sector employees demand the approval of the wage scale, and %80 of the taxes agreed by the parliament target the privileged classes.”

He noted that an initial %4 increase in the value-added tax (VAT) was first suggested but the change and Reform bloc did not accept more than %1.

On Thursday, the parliament imposed a series of new taxes that included an increase in the value-added tax (VAT) from 10 to 11% , an increase in levies on financial transactions and other taxes related to cement, stamps, cigarettes and alcoholic beverages.

The Minister continued to say: “No one had the courage before to impose taxes on maritime property, on banks and corporate. But today this matter will be approved.”

On the squandering of money in several institutions including the Customs, Bassil said: “We have notified the related parties at the Customs that shall there be no extra income in a year from now, there will be a wave of sacking.”

The parliament says the new taxes are aimed at allocating the needed funds for the pay scale for government employees which include judges, teachers and military personnel.

Kataeb party MPs have strongly denounced the measures. Kataeb chief Sami Gemayel urged the government to address corruption instead of “emptying the citizen's pockets.”

The controversial move was decried by the majority of Lebanese and protesters took to the squares in Beirut and Tripoli to reject the new taxes following calls on social networking websites.