Lebanon’s Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil denied on Sunday a decision has been taken to impose new taxes on low-income and middle-class individuals in the new draft budget that he submitted to Prime Minister Saad Hariri last week.
Speaking at a political rally in southern Lebanon, he said: “We won’t touch the gains earned by the sweat of people.”
The draft budget now awaits the cabinet’s approval.
Khalil and Hariri met for two hours last week and made final revisions to the draft.
“We noticed many flaws that have made budgets ineffective in previous years given unnecessary expenditures and a deficit in the electricity sector,” he explained.
Khalil stated that he was dedicated to ensuring the success of a new electricity plan and was open to making a real achievement in this thorny file.
The government is expected to discuss a new electricity plan this week to solve the $1.5 billion yearly deficit of the state-run Electricite du Liban.
Khalil acknowledged that Lebanon as facing a real economic and financed crisis.
However, he reassured that it could overcome it on condition that the new cabinet assume its responsibilities by tackling all pending files, including the approval of a new budget.
Last week, he revealed that his draft budget includes a proposal to reduce the salaries of the president, prime minister, parliament speaker, ministers, MPs and former lawmakers as part of his plan to lower the budget deficit.
The Hezbollah and the Amal Movement shared Khalil’s stance against increasing taxes.
Nabil Qaouq, a member of Hezbollah's Central Council, said that the party would not allow the passing of any taxes on the poor.
