"We'll have to make adjustments in Israeli Companies Tax following the President Donald Trump's tax reform in the US," Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon said yesterday evening.
Asked in an interview on Channel 10 about his reaction to the reform passed by the US Congress, Kahlon replied, "WE certainly intend to respond to it. On my first day in my post I found a tax rate of 26.5% - that's an insane number, I don't know how it got to that. We cut the rate immediately, and in two weeks' time we'll reach 23%.
"As soon as I heard the news after Shabbat, I called Moshe Asher, the head of the Israel Tax Authority, and we agreed that we would obtain all the details on the tax reform from our companies active overseas, and that we would have to respond to it. This tax reform is not just a matter of corporate taxation as a number; it affects the tax base and tax differentials. What's the danger that companies in Israel will shut up shop here and relocate there? Since the new US administration took office, I have had two meetings with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, and 80% of the discussion was on this subject. It's a very sensitive matter."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 3, 2017
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