Local

Dec. 08, 2017 | 12:18 AM

New taxes impair consumer confidence

The government’s determination to increase taxes exacerbated consumers’ skepticism.

The Daily Star

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on December 08, 2017, on page 4.

Entities

Comments

Your feedback is important to us!

We invite all our readers to share with us their views and comments about this article.

Disclaimer: Comments submitted by third parties on this site are the sole responsibility of the individual(s) whose content is submitted. The Daily Star accepts no responsibility for the content of comment(s), including, without limitation, any error, omission or inaccuracy therein. Please note that your email address will NOT appear on the site.

Alert: If you are facing problems with posting comments, please note that you must verify your email with Disqus prior to posting a comment. follow this link to make sure your account meets the requirements. (http://bit.ly/vDisqus)

comments powered by Disqus

Summary

The tax hike had a dire impact on the mood of Lebanese consumers in the third quarter of 2017, the Byblos Bank/AUB Consumer Confidence Index indicated.

It added that the average monthly score of the index in the third quarter of 2017 was 44.8 percent lower than the quarterly peak score of 105.8 registered in the fourth quarter of 2008, and remained 39.6 percent below the annual peak score of 96.7 reached in full year 2009 .

The Lebanese government raised the value added tax from 10 percent to 11 percent and increased taxes on corporate profits from 15 percent to 17 percent.

However, private sector employees received no salary adjustments.