The parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee, chaired by MP Ibrahim Kanaan, continued on Monday its review of the draft budget for fiscal year 2024 in the presence of caretaker Minister of Finance Youssef Khalil. The draft budget was approved by the Council of Ministers on September 12, before being submitted to Parliament for final approval.
On the agenda: continued examination of the third chapter on tax amendments.
At the end of the session, Kanaan said that the committee had completed its study of all the documents related to the tax stamp duty amendments after finalizing the articles related to the amendment of the income tax law. It has begun discussing the documents on the amendment of fines.
Kanaan argued that the committee’s work prevents “this disastrous” budget from being approved by decree, should Parliament fail to discuss, amend or reject it.
“The articles that multiply annual fines by 40 without specifying the type or extent of the offence, as well as the articles that increase by tenfold the fines on offenses of the Highway Code and tax stamp duty from 35 to 127 times, have been suspended,” he said.
He went on to say that this suspension and amendment of articles imposing random increases in fees and fines, in the shadow of a disastrous economic-financial situation, is the greatest proof of the importance of the Finance Committee’s exceptional work.
He pointed out that the MPs opposed the articles because the budget did not take into consideration neither the unity of standards, nor the deterioration of economic and social conditions for which the Lebanese citizen is not responsible.
Kanaan also expressed hope that he would be able to complete the examination of the articles of the law next Monday, and then move on to the budget figures.
The committee’s next meeting will be held on Wednesday.
