Members of the Knesset Finance Committee expressed outrage over Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s behavior regarding tax policies, specifically over online income tax reporting, and regarding the income tax hike that had been due to take effect January 1.
The Knesset members claim that tax-related bills from the Finance Ministry should not be moved forward, due to the Finance Minister’s inconsistency. The Knesset members’ outrage stems from statements that, due to pressure from the Finance Minister’s Bureau, the Tax Authority is reconsidering imposing mandatory online reporting for businesses with annual revenue of over NIS 1.5 million. This, just one week after Knesset members were called upon by the Finance Ministry and the Tax Authority to move up the start date of online reporting, due to the need to combat black capital.
The Knesset members wondered if in the few days since, it was decided that there is no need to combat black capital. MK Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) called upon Finance Committee Chair, MK Nissan Slomiansky (Habayit Hayehudi), to delay bills proposed by the Finance Ministry until its intentions become clear: “It seems that the Finance Minister changes policy direction in keeping with the public mood, and in keeping with his personal PR considerations. He is the laughing stock of the Knesset, and we should not cooperate with him.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 26, 2013
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