| Is the income tax fair between salaries in Lebanese currency and salaries in fresh dollars? |
| Source : day |
date of publication :
03 Dec 2022 |
Source :
day
date of publication :
Saturday, December 3, 2022
The voices of employees who receive their “Fresh Dollar” salaries rose in protest against what they called “random deduction” from salaries against the backdrop of determining the income tax. However, an official source explained to “An-Nahar” that calculating the tax according to the new budget is more than fair for them, as The decision created a kind of equality for employees who receive their salaries in Lebanese currency and those who receive their salaries in “# fresh dollars”, and this was not the case before the budget was issued. The source compared the tax on the salaries of some private sector employees who receive “fresh dollars” and public sector employees, indicating that the employee who receives his salary in “fresh dollars” is calculated on his income on the basis of the “exchange” rate, and then if he receives 1000. “Dollar Fresh” (currently 40 million pounds). The tax is calculated on the basis of the “exchange” rate, i.e. (the salary is 30 million pounds). The source criticized the demand to amend the tax to be more fair to them, and asked: Is it reasonable for an employee who earns a salary of 9 million pounds to pay a parallel tax to another employee who earns 6 thousand “fresh dollars”? The first has an actual salary of less than 250 dollars “fresh” (nine million pounds is less than 250 dollars “fresh”), while the second one receives six thousand dollars “fresh”, so his salary is 24 times the salary of the first. The tax deduction halves have also been raised. After the employee used to pay 25% on the part of his income, which exceeds 225 million pounds annually, now the part has been raised to 675 million annually. While the exemption for a person was 7 and a half million now, it has become 37 and a half million. As for the exemption for the wife, it was two and a half million and it became 12 and a half million. One of the solutions proposed by the source, in light of the difficult living conditions, is to raise the tax brackets further in the 2023 budget and increase the tax deduction per capita to a minimum of 75 million pounds.
