Never say never is the rule in Israeli politics as Shas party leader Aryeh Deri has announced his conditions for entering the coalition. One should remember that in recent weeks Deri stated unequivocally that Shas would not enter the current coalition under any circumstances.
Using Twitter to get his message out, Deri explained that the two issues on which there can be no compromise are a 30 NIS minimum hourly wage and zero value added tax on basic items instead of zero VAT on apartments.
Perhaps Deri has opted to determine the public’s support for his idea, using Twitter to deliver the message. In recent weeks he made it clear, that Shas would not save this coalition from tumbling.
The prime minister is aware that if he can bring Shas and Yahadut Hatorah in, with their combined 18 seats, even is Yesh Atid leaves the coalition with its 19 seats, he can avoid national elections.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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12 Responses
This means Shas is giving up on being a hareidi party and instead is become a Sefardi “social” party albeit with a strong religious orientation. Most importantly, he is agreeing to conscription of yeshiva students, which is a very radical departure from past policy. It is highly unlike that Agudas Yisrael and Degel ha-Torah would agree to drafting of their yeshiva students.
Dropping the VAT on necessities is not quite the same as the US policy of not taxing necessities since the US tax is on the retail price, whereas the VAT is at every level of production and so cutting back the VAT on retail only impacts on the amount the retail price is being marked up over all previous prices.
And a “1st world” minimum wage would serious hurt Israeli business and increase unemployment.
Netanyahu is leading the hareidi parties on and successfully pitting them against each other.
He would not really mind going to elections today.
Al-Monitor reports, “According to a survey conducted for the Israeli news site Walla! a few hours after the murderous, Nov. 18 attack on a synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem, if elections had been held that same week, the three right-wing parties would have been able to form a coalition of 63 Knesset members.”
He wrote “Two iron-clad conditions for Shas’ participation in a FUTURE government.”
Shas said they wouldn’t join this coalitiion; they never said they wouldn’t join the next one.
Deri is throwing darts all over the political map in search of something, anything, that will ensure his political future. As to these ‘conditions’ it’s interesting that he never showed any interest in them before, in either action or speech, as either a member of government or in the opposition. He’s just sending up a political balloon to gauge the reaction in the polls. The same can be said for the idea he has floated of a political merger with UTJ. The really fascinating thing is that those two moves would move Sha”s in two very different, even incompatible, directions.
Having said that, for once I agree with Deri. By all means expand 0% VAT (which now applies to fresh produce) to some other basic necessities and raise the shamefully low minimum wage.
Akuperma, as far I know, that’s not true. VAT is charged along the line as you say but credited back as an input credit. So only the retail consumer ends up paying it.
#4
your same crowd demanded that Yishai step down after the Carmel Fire
A VAT is charged when the farmer sells the produce to the manufacturer, and again when the manufacturer sells the processed infredients to a factory, and again when the factory sells to the wholesaler, and again when the wholesaler sells to the retailer, and again when the retailer sells to the customer.
This “tax upon tax” means credits are largely meaningless, and is a major reason why the USA has rejected VATs.
akuperma, with all due respect. I run a business in a country with VAT. All charges among the supply chain are ignored because businesses get the VAT they pay credited back. Only the retail consumer ends up paying it. It’s actually a very good system
akuperma – you’re dead wrong on how VAT works. It is collected at each level as you say, but each level also claims a credit for so-called “input VAT” – the VAT they paid on their inputs. The result is that the amount collected by the government at each stage is the tax on the “value added” at that stage – hence the name “Value Added Tax”.
If there has been VAT collected along the way from the various manufacturers or processors, but the item is ultimately sold in a way where the VAT rate is 0%, the final seller is still entitled to an input VAT credit for all the VAT collected at earlier stages. The only difference is that usually, the final seller collects the full VAT from the purchaser and essentially realizes the credit by only remitting to the government the difference between the input VAT and the VAT collected. Where the final sale is subject to 0% VAT, the vendor generally will get the input VAT back as a cash payment from the taxing authority instead.
And yes, I am certain of this – this is one of the issues I deal with professionally on a daily basis.
anIsraeliYid
All the Chareidi parties will jump at joining a new coalition government. They always have and always will. It always means power and money.
#10 You and your ilk said that a hundred times two years ago
..still awaiting a retraction and an apology
The past year and half should have been an monumental lesson
to all those who wondered how come the charedim felt the need to be in the gov’t
(Will finally silence all defamers ?
As the last pasuk in this weeks haftorah said..)