Ahead of Knesset tally, Lapid says his voters happy with budget

Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) submitted his belt-tightening 2013-2014 budget proposal for a Knesset vote on Monday, saying those who voted him in would be content despite the sweeping budget cuts and tax hikes.

Parrying heckles during his speech before parliament, Lapid said “Yesh Atid voters are very satisfied” and that those who voted his party into office don’t think Yesh Atid is reneging on its promises to safeguard the middle class.

“The budget’s objective is extricating the economy from deficit. We can’t allow the situation to continue as is. If it weren’t for us, the deficit would have grown. We chose to do the responsible thing,” Lapid said.

Defending his budget against claims that it further impoverished the lower classes, Lapid said “they are not invisible to us,” but that “the thing the lower classes need most is a strong country with a strong economy.”

Last month, the Finance Ministry approved a series of austerity measures aimed at cutting government spending by some NIS 6.5 billion (almost $2 billion) in 2013 and by NIS 18 billion (some $5 billion) in 2014, largely through cuts in defense, child benefits (NIS 2 billion, or $560 million) and transportation infrastructure projects (NIS 1.2 billion, or $336 million). Those measures are meant to slash a burgeoning national deficit that in 2012 reached NIS 39 billion ($11 billion) — 4.2 percent of the gross domestic product.

The treasury’s budget proposal also increased income tax by 1.5% across the board, and boosted corporate tax to 26%. The Knesset already approved raising the value added tax from 17% to 18% at the end of May.

Opposition leader Shelly Yachimovich (Labor Party) took the podium after Lapid and denounced the governing coalition’s budget as “an organized attack by [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and Lapid on the Israeli majority.” She compared the battle over the budget to a civil war and charged that the government “declared war on 99% of Israelis” with the proposed budget.

She charged that Netanyahu and Lapid were out of touch with ordinary Israelis and called on dissenting members of the government to join the opposition.