Fuel tax: Finance Ministry defends its position before State Council

Finance Minister Yassine Jaber did send a statement to the State Council to explain why he believed the government’s May 19, 2025, decision to tax certain fuels and use the proceeds from these taxes to fund aid for the Lebanese Army should be reinstated, according to a well-informed source at the Finance Ministry.

According to this source, the minister said he took what he considers a "normal" step to defend the point of view of the executive branch and the Ministry before the highest administrative jurisdiction. The latter had suspended this decision last July following an appeal filed by the Lebanese Forces, while it considers the merits of the case — something that could take some time.

Partly confirming information reported Monday by the MTV channel regarding this statement, the source added that the minister notably argued that the government could act in customs matters under law No. 93 of Oct. 10, 2018, whose effects were extended by another text suspending this period for a year and a half.

According to the channel, the finance minister and his colleague at defense, Michel Menassa, agree to maintain army aid funded by the tax’s proceeds. Lebanese soldiers have been mobilized to bolster border security with Syria, which underwent a regime change last December, and to disarm armed militias in the country, including Hezbollah and those in Palestinian camps. By contrast, military salaries have melted away since the crisis triggered by the depreciation of the Lebanese pound and have yet to be fully adjusted to offset these losses.

The constitution reserves to Parliament the authority to intervene in fiscal matters. But in 2018, it allowed the government to do so for five years, notably in customs matters (law No. 93 of Oct. 10, 2018) — a power the cabinet later delegated to the Higher Customs Council.

However, while the duration of this exemption was supposed to expire at the end of October 2023, a law passed in 2024 suspended legal and contractual deadlines for the period from Oct. 8, 2023 — that is, the first day of the war between Hezbollah and Israel — until March 31, 2025, citing the grave instability of the security situation.

After being approached by 10 MPs from the Free Patriotic Movement, the Constitutional Council initially suspended the effects of the law before reinstating almost all its provisions on Jan. 16. The law granting the government a customs-related exemption has not, for its part, been challenged before the Constitutional Council, though the legitimacy of the exceptional measure it establishes remains hotly debated.

The Cabinet’s adoption of the fuel tax caused an outcry at the time. It was enforced for a month and a half before the State Council suspended it.