Politicians from across the political spectrum on Wednesday criticized
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's announcement Tuesday night that he
would be raising the value added tax (VAT) one percent and making wide-ranging
budget cuts.
Labor leader Shelly Yechimovich in an interview
with Army Radio on Wednesday attacked Netanyahu, stating "why did you
take from the poor what you could take from the rich?"
Yechimovich
added that the overall effect of the expected billions of shekels of
cuts would be "to bring the middle class to its knees," according to the
report.
The Labor leader said that the cuts would mean "less
health, less education, internal security. This means that the average
citizen will need to pay out of his pocket [even more] for what he is
meant to be receiving for having paid his taxes," the report said.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai also came out against the planned tax increase on Wednesday, saying the regressive tax hurt weak sectors of society.
"I think we need a progressive tax, so the rich pay more and the poor pay less," Yishai said in an interview with Army Radio. "It can't be that a middle class person pays exactly what a rich person pays."
Items like luxury cars, jewelry, restaurants and hotel rooms, more likely to be purchased by the rich, should be taxed at a higher rate instead, Yishai said.
Proposed budget cuts, the minister continued, have the same problem, hitting the weakest sectors of societies by taking away vital support and services. The funds, he noted, are not coming off ministers' salaries.
Opposition
leader MK Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) on Tuesday said Netanyahu was killing
the middle class, adding that “after turning his back on those who serve
in the army in the middle class, now Netanyahu is showing them his
middle finger.”
He added: “This is the real face of the prime
minister, who continues to trample on the public. These edicts will only
deepen the desperation.”
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman also
came out against Netanyahu's initiative. Speaking in an interview with
Israel Radio on Wednesday, Liberman expressed frustration that he was
not consulted about the move prior to Tuesday's announcement.
Netanyahu
and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz decided Tuesday to bring a proposal
to the cabinet on Monday, which would raise the the VAT by 1 percent or
more.
Each 1% hike in VAT (which currently
stands at 16%) is expected to enrich the government coffers by NIS 4
billion per year. The cabinet will also be asked to make an
across-the-board cut for government ministries totaling NIS 700 million.
Government
sources in Jerusalem on Tuesday told Globes that the rise in VAT is
only a first step determined by Netanyahu as part of a comprehensive
plan to raise taxes.
The Knesset Finance Committee passed on
Tuesday the cabinet’s decision to double the deficit target from 1.5% to
3%. Steinitz told the committee that the 2013 budget will include tax
hikes and spending cuts, but said doubling the deficit target saves the
government from having to increase taxes even more than planned.
The
new target would help the government remain on track toward the “most
important” goal of reducing debt-to-GDP to 60% by the year 2020,
Steinitz said.
Netanyahu defended the VAT increase on his
Facebook page, saying, “the economic turmoil around us is not
decreasing, but becoming stronger in the world. Last year all the
leading states had their credit rating downgraded, the US and the
leading countries in Europe."
Nadav Shemer and Globes contributed to this story.