Lebanese Forces leader, Samir Geagea, maintained on Monday that his party had called the state to determine the utilities where public funds waste was taking place before heading to impose new taxes to finance the long-awaited salary scale.
“Everybody recalls that two months ago when the state budget talks began, our motto was to identify waste before approving new taxes,” Geagea told a news conference he held at Maarab today.
“The LF has a bundle of measures to place us on the right track; we proposed them yesterday before Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the Free Patriotic Movement, and we shall tackle them inside the government,” he revealed.
Geagea explained that according to his proposition, the government must opt for austerity and spending cuts.
The LF chief continued that the private sector must contribute to the production of energy, adding that Minister Cezar Abi Khalil will set the terms for this partnership.
Moreover, Geagea highlighted the obligation to end tax evasion, leaving no need to collect new taxes.
Among the proposed measures, he also pointed out the condition of the Customs’ Department, noting that illegitimate trafficking routes cost the state losses amounting to 400 million, in addition to contraventions at Beirut and Tripoli seaports.
Furthermore, Geagea said that the state must also cease employment at its administrations, rejecting any form of contract work.
“This basket that we are proposing aims to invigorate economy and to create new job opportunities so that people should live decently,” he underlined.
“Still, we are in need of investments which usually comes from the Gulf,” he said.
Geagea did not fail to blame Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and the party’s intervention in Syria and Yemen, for the absence of Arabs’ investments in Lebanon.
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