Govt. 'Finalizes' Budget, Shops Fined over Hiked Prices as Tax Protests Continue
The Cabinet on Friday conducted a “very positive” final reading of the draft state budget and a session will be set for approving it after consultations with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced after a Cabinet meeting.
“The final version will be distributed to the ministers and we will approve it as soon as possible,” Hariri told reporters.
Asked whether “WhatsApp rumors” about the new taxes were to blame for the parliament's failure to pass the long-stalled new wage scale in Thursday's session, Hariri said a certain “atmosphere was being prepared in parliament and it was clear that there was an inclination to block this wage scale.”
He however insisted that the government and the parliament are determined to approve the wage scale.
Economy Minister Raed Khoury had announced before the Cabinet session that the ministry has issued a statement warning against hiking prices illegally “after some shops made such a step.”
“We have fined a number of violators today,” Khoury added.
According to media reports, it only took some retailers a few hours to hike the prices of certain goods in the wake of the parliament's approval of the new taxes – although the law has not yet entered into force.
On the ground, protesters rejecting the new taxes took to the streets across Lebanon for a second consecutive day.
A central demonstration was held outside the Grand Serail in downtown Beirut during the Cabinet session as several regions witnessed sits-ins and road-blocking protests.
Several civil society groups and activists from the Progressive Socialist Party, the Kataeb Party and the National Liberal Party took part in the Beirut demo.
“Our sit-in today is a warning message, especially that we in Lebanon are on the verge of a social explosion,” Neamat Badreddine of the We Want Accountability campaign said.
She accused the political class of impoverishing citizens and destroying the middle class through its “flawed taxation policies and failure to endorse a progressive tax system.”
Elsewhere, protesters blocked the Sidon-Tyre highway in the South, the Minieh-Abdeh highway in the North and the Qsarnaba highway in the Bekaa to voiced their rejection of the new taxes.
Sit-ins were also held in Tripoli's al-Tal area and the northern city of Zgharta.
In addition to a 1% VAT increase new taxes have been imposed on bank interests, cement, cigarettes and alcohol in addition to a host of taxes related to financial and real estate transactions.
The Syndicate Coordination Committee, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, has been pushing for the approval of the new wage scale for several years now and has organized numerous street protests and strikes to this end.
The SCC has however rejected hiking taxes on citizens to fund the wage scale and has instead called for putting an end to rampant corruption and the squandering of public funds.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/227138 |