Posted on 11/07/21
| News Source: Vosizneias.com
Yediot Aharonot’s economic affairs correspondent Sever Plotzker revealed that senior members of the Finance Ministry in Israel opposed the new taxes on disposables and sweetened beverages but were pressured by Minister Avigdor Lieberman into authorizing the taxes.
Plotzker criticized the rationale behind the new taxes, stating that they will encourage inflation in a very sensitive period and in a country which already has too many regressive taxes, these taxes will harm the lower-income deciles of Israeli society in a far greater manner.
Plotzker added that the purported reason behind the taxes -high sugar consumption and high plastic consumption per capita – is simply not true, since Israel is on the low end of the OECD on these categories.
Plotzker added that “the director of government income was forced to promise industrial leaders a full refund of “sugar taxes” on natural drinks without added sugar.
Plotzker concluded that the only logic behind the taxes was “Liberman’s wish to teach a lesson to the chareidi public.”
The new taxes were also criticized by another journalist, Haaretz’s Chaim Levinson, who claimed that Lieberman never needs to wash dishes since “he has servants to do that” and said the tax was anti-democratic and aimed at chareidim. Lieberman denied the claim and called Levinson: “The number one scoundrel in Israel.”
“מכל הסיבות האלה היו כלכלנים בכירים באוצר שהתנגדו להטלת המסים דווקא עכשיו אך נכנעו לשר”.
לדברי פלוצקר, “ליברמן ביקש ללמד לקח את הציבור החרדי”.