The Finance and Budget Committee, chaired by MP Ibrahim Kanaan, held a session today, Monday, attended by MPs: Alain Aoun, Ali Hassan Khalil, Fouad Makhzoumi, Michel Moawad, Salim Aoun, Ghada Ayoub, Ibrahim Mneimneh, Ghassan Hasbani, Mark Daou, Hassan Fadlallah, Ni'mat Afram, Jihad Al-Samad, Ghazi Zaiter, Jean Talouzian, Najat Aoun Saliba, Michel Douaihi, Amin Shre, Michel Moussa, Mohammad Khawaja, and Adnan Traboulsi. Also present were Acting Director General of the Ministry of Finance George Mirawi and Director of Revenues at the Ministry of Finance Louay Haj Shihadeh.
The session was dedicated to studying the draft law aimed at amending Article 45 of Legislative Decree No. 144/6/1959 and its amendments (Income Tax Law), and allowing taxpayers to conduct exceptional reassessments of their inventories and fixed assets, as well as adopting exceptional treatments for positive and negative exchange rate differences resulting from civil and creditor accounts in foreign currencies and financial accounts in foreign currencies.
In a statement following the session, MP Kanaan said, "A general discussion took place at the beginning of the session, which included a debate on the constitutionality of referring the draft law to the House of Representatives by the caretaker government. Several fellow MPs expressed objections to this issue regarding the government's authority to refer bills not signed by all ministers in the absence of the President of the Republic. While another group of MPs considered the objections to be misplaced, arguing that discussing the draft law is constitutionally permissible."
He continued, "I spoke at the beginning of the session and pointed out that the draft law in question was part of the draft 2024 budget that was discussed and approved by the House of Representatives with the presence of various parliamentary blocs. The article related to it was suspended until the end of the session in which the budget was approved, but this article was not revisited. Thus, the content of the draft was previously discussed in the Finance Committee and the General Assembly, and it is not new to raise an issue about it."
Kanaan added, "However, in light of this division, the session was adjourned and I will set a later date for its reconvening. There is also a proposed law submitted by MP Ni'mat Afram on the same issue, which can be raised alongside the draft to overcome this problem."
Kanaan considered that "any disruption of essential and necessary laws leads to the paralysis of the country and people's interests, especially harming the national economy and the state’s revenues, as well as companies suffering due to the absence of the regulatory mechanism for the reassessment of fixed assets in light of the current fluctuations in prices in the country and the exchange rate that urgently requires these exceptional measures."
