Beirut, Lebanon \u2013<\/strong> Anger in Lebanon is growing after the government of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced increases in petrol taxes and value-added taxes (VATs) last week.<\/p>\n The rises in what economists and analysts have called \u201cregressive\u201d taxes led to two protests on February 17 and an array of criticism against the government, including from media and voices that had previously been friendly to Salam\u2019s reformist administration.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u201cThe government lost its mind,\u201d Megaphone News, an independent, progressive news outlet published on a social media account in response to Salam\u2019s government announcing a 300,000 Lebanese pound ($3.35) price increase on 20 litres (about 5.3 gallons) of petrol or gasoline and a one percent increase from 11 to 12 percent on VAT \u2013 a consumption tax charged on goods and services at each stage of production.<\/p>\n On the morning of February 17, a handful of taxi drivers blocked the Ring Bridge in downtown Beirut to protest the rise in taxes. Later that evening, in Riad al-Solh Square, around 50 or so protesters gathered to express their discontent with the government\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have no housing, you have no loans, you have no safety, I mean, you live here in a prison, brother,\u201d one angry protester told Lebanese television station Al Jadeed from the Ring Bridge protest.<\/p>\n His comments represent the frustration felt by many Lebanese \u2013 that the tax increases are yet another indignity the population must live through, including near-daily Israeli attacks and violations of the 2024 ceasefire, collapsing buildings in the north, and an ongoing economic crisis since 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n The last time a tax spike sent Lebanese people to the streets was in 2019. Anger in Lebanon had boiled after decades of economic and political mismanagement by the government. Then, as the country\u2019s economy started collapsing, the government tried to implement a series of taxes, including on WhatsApp calls.<\/p>\n The response was widespread protests that collapsed the government, led at the time by then-Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri. But they failed to dislodge the wider sectarian system that many activists and experts say plagues Lebanon and prevents reform.<\/p>\n Last week\u2019s protests were on a far smaller scale than 2019, however.<\/p>\n Then, protesters forced the government to walk back the taxes. But Salam, the prime minister, defended the tax hike on Friday. The government\u2019s argument is that the taxes are necessary to pay salaries and pensions for state employees and retirees.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to find a quick source to fund the raises,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are exceptional measures\u2026 but the government wants to reform the tax system, not just impose new taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n Salam also said that his government inherited a \u201cvery difficult\u201d financial situation and promised that he would rebuild trust between the state and the people by working to establish a fair tax system.<\/p>\n Lebanon\u2019s Finance Minister Yassine Jaber said the fuel price increase would take effect immediately, but that VAT increases would need parliament\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n \u201cMore than 50 per cent of the budget today is allocated to salaries, and it was necessary to take steps to secure the funds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But not everyone agreed with the decision, including some ministers themselves. The right-wing Lebanese Forces bloc \u2013 which is part of the government coalition \u2013 voiced objection to the tax increase, calling for a study of the impacts.<\/p>\n Analysts, meanwhile, were heavily critical of the tax increase. They said that the rise of petrol prices and VAT would punish the country\u2019s most vulnerable and would further widen the gap between rich and poor in Lebanon.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people who are most affected by value-added taxes are usually the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable, given the type of their consumption, which is mostly filled of the goods and the services that are affected by taxation, and whereby the proportion of the taxation is significant,\u201d Farah al-Shami, senior fellow and programme director for Social Protection at the Arab Reform Initiative, told Al Jazeera. \u201cVAT is by nature the most regressive type of taxation. Studies have shown that it affects the full supply chain, meaning everything that goes into the production, for example, of a certain good is affected.\u201d<\/p>\n A price increase at every step of the supply chain means that prices compound to end up being more expensive for consumers.<\/p>\n In 2019, decades of government mismanagement of the economy ended in the collapse of the banking sector and the depreciation of the Lebanese pound by over 90 percent. Before 2019, $1 was equivalent to 1,500 Lebanese pounds, whereas now $1 is valued at nearly 89,500 Lebanese pounds.<\/p>\n Many lost their life savings with the currency freefall. Banks quickly shut their doors and limited withdrawals. More than six years later, many Lebanese have not recovered, nor has the economy.<\/p>\n The high cost of living is a regular talking point among Lebanese, particularly in the capital, Beirut. Many are struggling to make ends meet and rely on the $5.8bn in remittances from family or contacts abroad (these are 2024 figures).<\/p>\n With so many struggling, a tax increase that impacts the entire population is a recipe for anger. And analysts said that if the government is in need of tax revenue, there are plenty of undertaxed sources to draw from.<\/p>\n \u201cProperty in Lebanon remains scandalously undertaxed,\u201d Dania Arayssi, a senior analyst at New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy Luxury, told Al Jazeera. \u201cReal estate in Beirut \u2014 some of the most expensive per square metre in the region \u2014 generates a fraction of the public revenue it could and should. Capital gains on property are minimal. Wealth held in land and assets is effectively sheltered. Similarly, luxury goods face no meaningful additional burden.\u201d<\/p>\n Fouad Debs, a lawyer and member of the Depositors Union, a group founded after the 2019 banking crisis to protect the rights of depositors, said the decision went against the government\u2019s stated goals of reform.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of this is to keep the [current] system intact and save the banks, instead of having them also pay the taxes that they should pay,\u201d Debs said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Beirut, Lebanon \u2013 Anger in Lebanon is growing after the government of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced increases in petrol taxes and value-added taxes (VATs) last week. The rises in what economists and analysts have called \u201cregressive\u201d taxes led to two protests on February 17 and an array of criticism against the government, including from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
![\"epa12749352](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/epa_699c62ed75a5-1771856621.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80\")
Salam doubles down<\/h2>\n
VAT is a regressive tax<\/h2>\n
Scandalous undertaxing<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"