Mahfoud to LBCI: Deputies want to impose new taxes on citizens

Head of the Private Schools Teachers Association Nehme Mahfoud stated on Tuesday that a number of deputies are not concerned with public affairs, pointing out that MPs are trying to impose new taxes on Lebanese citizens under the pretext of funding the series of ranks and salaries.

Mahfoud told LBCI’s Nharkom Said that the Union Coordinating Committee will convene this afternoon to specify its comments on the report issued by the committee that studied the new wage hike, and will deliver these remarks to House Speaker Nabih Berri.

The UCC, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, had called for massive participation in the march in an attempt to exert pressure on the parliament to pass the new wage scale.

It resumed its movements a couple of weeks ago calling on the authorities to pass the pay scale, which stipulates a wage hike.

The decision to revive movements came as a result of the failure of the Joint Parliamentary Committees to resolve the dispute on the Value Added Tax in a proposal aimed at securing the funds for the salary scale that was approved by former Prime Minister Najib Mikati's cabinet.

Former PM Mikati's cabinet endorsed the new salary scale for public employees in 2012, ending a long dispute that had triggered several sit-ins and strikes held by the UCC.

President Michel Sleiman signed the decree mid-June 2013 and it was referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committees for further examination, however the law was never passed.