Tax breaks, reform of the Israel Land Administration (ILA), and the expansion of Israel's highway and railway infrastructure - these are the key measures in the economic plan of Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, which he intends to put into effect, should he become prime minister following the upcoming elections on February 10. "These are three immediate measures which we will put into effect a few weeks after forming the government," he said today at a Deloitte Brightman Almagor conference on "End of the tax year in the shadow of economic crisis".
Netanyahu made it clear that the plan would form the Likud's basis for the 2009 budget. The plan would, he said, include additional measures such as the opening of R&D centers, and reform in the higher education system. "It won't take days or weeks, but we can get these reforms moving within a few quarters," Netanyahu said. "We will emerge from the crisis stronger. We will create new jobs. To prevent unemployment from rising, we must create thousands of jobs. If we want to prevent unemployment from rising again, and maintain it at this level, we have to maintain growth and safeguard jobs," he added.
Netanyahu gave details of his plan. The key measure in the tax breaks, he said, would be the lowering of income tax for the middle classes. "It makes a lot of sense to lower taxes, since these will energize consumers, investors and banks. They make credit more liquid, investments more attractive, and give people the feeling that they have more free income."
As to the second key measure in his plan, reform of the ILA, Netanyahu said "There needs to be a release of the capital buried in the ground. Israel is rich in contained capital, and this capital is in the 33% of land in Israel held by the state-run monopoly, the ILA."
The third key measure contained in the Likud program calls for the expansion of the highway and railway infrastructure. "This will also take time, but the very action itself will jumpstart escalated investment in the economy. My aim is to get Israel out of the crisis very quickly. We will set about this immediately with a series of clear-cut measures, so that the chain reaction is swift, together with reforms of the real estate and construction market," Netanyahu said.
He added, "We are in a global crisis that has paralyzed the three key intersections - the banks which are not giving credit, investors, and customers who stop consuming because of this. These three bottlenecks are becoming increasingly congested. Government action should therefore aim to release these bottlenecks and get traffic moving.
"The government should make it clear that no bank will fall. This security needs to be backed with a willingness to act," Netanyahu added.
As to investment, Netanyahu said it was on the verge of grinding to a standstill. "Investors always barricade themselves in when a crisis is at its peak, but the moment there is a government policy in place that starts the wheels of growth rolling, they will come out again. We need just a drop of the international ocean of credit. For us this is everything," he added.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 30, 2008
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2008