Deputy Speaker Farid Makary adjourned the legislative session until a date to be later set by Speaker Nabih Berri, due to failure to reach quorum, as only 60 deputies attended the afternoon session.
Makary noted that Speaker Berri wishes to hold a parliamentary session either next Wednesday or Thursday, just after PM Saad Hariri returns form a one-day visit to Egypt.
On another note, Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq told LBCI that “it is very difficult to hold the parliamentary elections as scheduled,” noting that the extension will be of technical natural.
The Parliament had passed during the legislative session held on Thursday morning the taxes on the alcoholic beverages.
The deputies also approved the proposal presented by Atef Majdalani to add a LBP 250 fee on the packet of cigarettes, a LBP 250 fee on the tobacco packet and a LBP 500 on the pack of cigars.
At the beginning of the session, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said that the pay scale will be passed and will be a step toward the right path. “We will abstain from imposing further taxes on low-income people.”
For his part, head of the Finance parliamentary committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan commented on the objections over the pay scale’s funding sources.
“Those who are objecting the taxes must enlighten us on means to fund the pay scale, unless the main reason behind the objection is to hinder the pay scale,” he stated.