Beirut Restaurateur Withholding Tax as Faith in State Collapses
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A Lebanese restaurateur will stop paying an 11% value-added tax to the state and will instead donate the money to non-governmental organizations working to help victims of the devastating blast at Beirut’s port.
“It’s so depressing to reopen in the middle of such destruction,” Dany Chakour, owner of the Em Sherif restaurant chain with four stores employing 400 people in the city, said by phone. “To give a purpose to resuming our operations, we decided to help the NGOs who are the only ones helping on the ground. We won’t pay the government, that’s for sure.”