Labor MK demands official inquiry into deficit
Nachman Shai, slamming budget proposal, says funds can be found in settlements and at wasteful companies with inflated salaries
Aaron Kalman is a former writer and breaking news editor for the Times of Israel
An opposition lawmaker demanded an official state inquiry to discover how Israel’s deficit grew so dramatically, and to “find out why no one saw it coming.”
“We don’t need a tourniquet [to stop the budget’s bleeding], we need an overall examination,” Labor MK Nachman Shai told Israel Radio on Thursday, attacking the recently approved budget proposal by Finance Minister Yair Lapid.
He said the budget, which will combine tax hikes with ministry budget cuts, would “cause more damage.”
The national budget deficit in 2012 was double the projected 2 percent of Israel’s gross domestic product, despite tax increases enacted earlier in the year.
The ministry aimed for a 2012 budget deficit of approximately 2%, but higher spending and lower tax revenues than expected resulted in a 4.2% margin between government income and spending, an annual Finance Ministry report revealed.
Shai said Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s proposed austerity measures in the 2013-2014 budget would further widen the gap between those who have and those who don’t, and push even more people below the poverty line. Lapid was “toppling Israeli society to depths it has never known,” he said.
He added that Lapid should target government earmarks for settlements and large inefficient companies instead of the lower classes.
The money is “in the large companies paying less than 1% of taxes… it’s in the inflated salaries of people working for companies that are losing money while they pocket large monthly checks,” Shai said. “Also settlements cost money,” he added.
“We won’t be able to solve this issue without an official state inquiry,” Shai said, adding the State Comptroller wouldn’t be able to fully investigate the matter. “Where was everyone in the past two, three years while the deficit grew and grew, why didn’t anyone shout and warn us?”
Earlier in the week State Comptroller Yosef Shapira announced he’d investigate the deficit. Channel 2 reported Shapira would examine not only the technical and bureaucratic issues at the treasury, but also the decision-making process and functioning of Israel’s elected leadership.
The Times of Israel Community.