MK (Yahadut HaTorah) Moshe Gafne warns the situation for chareidi mosdos is critical and if the government succeeds in implementing some of its fiscal policies, the situation will worsen.

On Monday, the Knesset Finance Committee, which Gafne chairs, is expected to address a number of budgetary matters, including an increase of value added tax by 1% to 16.5% and levying VAT on fruits and vegetables, which have been exempt to date.

Gafne explains that for one thing, salaries paid to workers in mosdos that are recognized as non-profit are exempt from tax and the non-profits must pay the government half of the VAT tax, currently 7.7%. The one percent increase will cost the non-profits an additional half percent, a strain that the already ailing budgets are unable to absorb. He added that levying a 16.5% tax on fruits and vegetables will also deliver a fatal blow to mosdos.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)