On 25 September 2017, Lebanon's Constitutional Court published its decision abolishing the recent tax law approved in August ({News-2017-09-08/A/4-previous coverage}) that, among other measures, increased the corporate tax rate to 17%, increased the value added tax rate to 11%, and introduced a 2% tax on the transfer of immovable property. The decision of the Constitutional Council was based on a number of grounds, including that the law violated the principle of universality because it was specifically for the purpose of funding increased minimum wages, salaries, and pensions for civil servants and pensioners; that it violated the principle of equality in...