BEIRUT: The Constitutional Council Thursday froze tax hikes after the Kataeb Party submitted an official appeal of the newly passed tax law one-day prior.

The state-run National News Agency reported that the Council froze the tax hikes effective immediately “pending further studies.”

After garnering the 10 requisite signatures, Kataeb chief MP Sami Gemayel submitted the appeal to the state institution Wednesday.

The following MPs signed the appeal: Sami Gemayel, Nadim Gemayel, Samer Saade, Fadi Habr, Salim Karam, Elie Marouni, Fouad Saad, Dory Chamoun, Khaled Daher and Boutros Harb.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Gemayel said, “We have not lost hope in the Constitution and the Lebanese judiciary ... and we assure that we will not give up and will continue to count on the institutions,” according to the NNA.

Gemayel thanked the MPs who showed their support by signing the appeal, calling for an immediate halt to the tax hikes.

He spoke of his support for the salary scale but rejected “going to the citizen’s pocket to fund [it] ... our problem is with the tax hikes, not the salary scale.”

The tax hikes were approved along with the salary scale when President Michel Aoun signed the initiatives into law, paving the way for them to be published in the Official Gazette.

Economic experts, banks and the Kataeb Party largely opposed the tax hikes, arguing that they would result in an immediate increase in the cost of basic necessities.