Ibrahim Kanaan, the head of the Finance and Budget Committee, presented his report on the 2023 budget proposal to the Presidency of the House of Representatives, detailing the reasons for rejecting the proposal following the Finance and Budget Committee meeting held on September 18, 2023. The reasons are as follows:
1. The 2023 budget proposal was submitted 9 months late from the constitutional deadline, specifically at the end of the fiscal year, which renders the budget meaningless and useless according to Article 5 of the Public Accounting Law, which defines the budget as authorization for the government to collect and spend. What is the benefit then, when the government has already spent funds and presented a budget to the parliament to legislate what it has done without any financial accounts?
2. The budget proposal was submitted without any reform or rescue vision. On the contrary, the proposal, like its predecessors before and after the collapse, is based on accounting logic and fictitious numbers relying on unproven or feasible increases in revenues, through increases in certain taxes and fees.
3. The government announced that it has completed studying and approving the 2024 budget proposal. What is the reason then to inundate the House of Representatives with the study of two budgets, one of which has expired and is enacted at least for an unverified reality?
4. It is necessary to submit the 2024 budget proposal on time according to constitutional and charter standards, as well as to submit the audited account for the previous year according to Article 87 of the Constitution.
