“Lebanon Debate”
“We will not allow the people to be impoverished… The dignity of the Lebanese is a red line.” With this title, the General Federation of Lebanese Trade Unions will hold a press conference at three in the afternoon on Friday, in which it determines its position on the recent tax package approved by the government, and reveals the nature of the expected union action in the face of what it describes as “oppressive taxes.”
In this context, the head of the General Federation of Lebanese Trade Unions, Maroun Al-Khouli, confirmed in an interview with “Lebanon Debate” that what the government committed against poor citizens, workers and people with limited income “is not an ordinary financial measure, but rather a described social crime,” considering that imposing additional taxes and fees in light of this economic collapse constitutes an unbearable burden.
Al-Khouli explained that the conference will include a legal and constitutional refutation of the violations surrounding these taxes, in addition to direct messages to the government and the parties participating in them, leading to determining the form of union action in the next stage. He stressed that “oppressive taxes will not pass, even if all political forces come together to pass them,” describing the tax measures as “arbitrary, destructive to people, and wrong financially, economically, and socially.”
He particularly criticized the increase in gasoline, considering it to mean general inflation, as any increase in fuel leads to an increase in the cost of transportation by no less than 50%, as was quickly evident in the service tariff. He pointed out that the cost of transportation is included in the pricing of about 70% of goods in the market, which, according to his estimate, leads to general inflation that may reach 30%.
He added that a citizen whose salary does not exceed $300 per month will practically lose about a third of his income due to these indirect taxes, warning that these policies will not address the financial deficit, but rather will lead to stifling the economy, declining consumption, and declining sales, leading to a deeper contraction and recession.
In exchange for the option of imposing new taxes on the most vulnerable groups, Al-Khouli believed that what was required was to recover state resources from the system of corruption that pervades various sectors, especially state property and commons, stressing that meeting their real allowances could secure billions of dollars for the treasury.
He considered that these facts are “not a secret,” but rather numbers known to ministers, advisors, and the prime minister, but they are being deliberately ignored “with suspicious complicity,” as he put it.
Al-Khouli concluded by stressing that the press conference would put dots on the letters and open what he called the “final confrontation” between the people and the protectors of the corrupt system, stressing that the dignity of the Lebanese is not an item for collection, and that the Union will not stand by and watch policies that exacerbate poverty and deepen the social gap.
The post The hour of confrontation has ticked: The dignity of the Lebanese is a red line… and the dots will be placed on the letters today! appeared first on 961today Lebanon Today.
