Among the array of speakers addressing this year’s Jerusalem Conference, which is sponsored by BaSheva, there was an economic panel discussion to discuss monthly child allowance payments.
The discussion was opened by Arutz-7’s Shlomo Piotrokovsky, who stated the monthly child allowance payments in Israel are low compared to other nations, amounting to about €40 per child.
MK (Bayit Yehudi) Nissim Slomiansky stated the monthly allocations were instituted for two reasons; to encourage people to have children and to assist the poor. Today he feels the matter has become a political one and each government has its own agenda. He feels there is merit to the argument not to have this monthly allocation for the higher it is the more it encourages people not to get and out work. Slomiansky cites in the previous administration, Finance Minister Yair Lapid believed more chareidim and Arabs must join the workplace.
He adds that in 1960, the average Muslim woman had 9.2 children and today that figure stands at 3.2. Slomiansky feels this attests to the fact that monthly allocation does not influence how many children people will have.
The discussion now shifted to the chareidi sector. Slomiansky explained that here, the husband learns and the wife earns the living but she cannot always work. “When there are a lot of children it is difficult for her to work. This is where it differs from the United States. Over there, the nation does not assist and the chareidim are out working” Slomiansky added, citing when Lapid was Finance Minister, getting the chareidim into the workforce was of paramount importance, even more so than chareidim serving in the IDF.
They quoted former Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in 2003, when he said “People will only bring children into the world when they can afford them. The nation will collapse if the monthly child allowance payments continue”.
Boaz Sofer added “The state gave two perks to those who bring children into the world; addition tax credit points and the monthly allowance.
Netanyahu said what he said back then because of the Halpert Law. The fact remains that the number of chareidim in the workplace has increased and the Halpert Law was a stab in their eye”.
NOTE: In 2000, during the Ehud Barak administration, the Knesset passed a law dubbed the Halpert Law since it was authored by MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Shmuel Halpert, which led to a significant increase in monthly child allowance payments, from NIS 171 per child to NIS 855 per child. Despite government objections the bill passed into law due to support from religious parties, Arab parties and most of Likud.
Sofer continued “Chareidim just wanted monthly allowances, not a work incentive. One must not mess with the mechanism in place today, finally. The formula must be work entitles one to an allowance. We must help those who help themselves. By the way, chareidim take advantage of work incentive more than other sectors of society. They ‘got it’ and understand one who goes to work profits.
“Monthly child allowance payments must be devoid of relevance for employment. Two partners who have three children are working and have negative income tax. We removed the Tax Authority logo from the forms so people will not be afraid to come and take what they are entitled to”.
Meital Pereg suggested “There is a situation in which people do not wish to enter the workplace, primarily single mothers. There is no connection between giving birth and allowances. I believe benefits must be differential”.
MK (Kulanu) Eli Elalouf added “I am not a politician”, explaining the real problem facing the government is how to systematically bring families out of poverty. He feels no one is doing this for fear of confronting one segment of the population or another. “We can however remove people from all walks of society from poverty” he added.
“We must eliminate the monthly child allowance and eliminate all allowances. There must be a work incentive. Don’t call it negative income tax but an incentive. We must educate or compel even the poorest of families to save for the future. This is what was decided this year, that a portion of the monthly child allowance is placed in savings [until the child is an adult]. I would be most selective as to who is entitled to a child allowance. If it is a poor non-working family, the family must be educated so it can get out and work and realize its rights”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
Salaries in Israel are already much lower than America for doing the same job, which makes it more likely that both parents will need to be working. Decreasing or eliminating the child allowance only increases the probability. For children to be in full time day care almost from birth because the parents are working is not good for children or families. Even for the few hours that the children are home and not asleep, the parents are tired from a long day. And Israel has no Sundays to give an extra day of family time on the weekend.