PM Mikati: Raising VAT rate is Out of Question

An increase in the country’s Value Added Tax (VAT) is out of the question, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said, ahead of possible Cabinet-level talks aimed at raising revenues.
A proposal by Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi to reform the country’s 12-year-old tax law and increase it from 10 percent to 12 percent was turned down by the Cabinet in January.
The 10 percent VAT was passed in Law 379 of 2001 and the law has not been amended since.
According to Mikati, Cabinet-level discussions of tax reform could possibly touch on ways to provide companies incentives.
Mikati’s comments come as he is set to chair later during the day a broad meeting with the country’s economic committees, in an effort to encourage economic dialogue and development.
The economic bodies, of different political affiliations, routinely hold meetings with the prime minister who insists economic affairs should be separated from politics.