MKs Moshe Gafne (Yahadut Hatorah) and Zahava Gal-On (Meretz) have combined forces to present an alternative budget to replace the plan approved by Finance Minister (Yesh Atid) Yair Lapid.

The two on Wednesday, 20 Sivan 5773 presented their friendly budget in Knesset, showing how the government can generate 43 billion NIS in revenue without the harsh gezeiros contained in the current budget, which deliver a hard blow to the lower and working class sectors.

The veteran MKs told Finance Minister Yair Lapid that there is another way, showing him how they not only covered the national deficit, but generated additional revenue without having tens of thousands of families join the ranks of those living under the poverty line.

The MKs remind Lapid that according to the recently released OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) report, Israel is the poorest member nation and his vision for the state budget will only serve to exacerbate the situation.

They maintain that aggressive tax planning can generate 3 billion NIS alone. They are confident that the return of ownership of natural resources to the public and increasing the gain will generate an addition 12 billion NIS; reducing benefits using the Encouragement of Capital Investments law can raise an addition 5 billion NIS; taxing ‘trapped profits’ and taxing profits currently used illegally will generate 13.5 billion NIS; a housing plan will raise 120 million NIS; taxing ghost homes to raise 1 billion NIS; differential corporate tax – 3.5 billion NIS; increasing capital gains tax – 1.35 billion NIS; additional income tax brackets – 900 million NIS; and cutting the defense budget – 3 billion NIS for a total of 43.37 billion NIS.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)