Cellcom reduces phone prices following Kahlon tax cut

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon’s announcement yesterday that the ministry was canceling the 15% purchase tax on cellphones is being felt almost immediately in the market.

The mobile giant Cellcom says today that it will start selling mobile phones at a 15% reduction from Friday, Channel 2 reports. That means a 32-gigabyte iPhone 7 will drop from NIS 3,790 ($1,034) to NIS 3,190 ($870), and the latest flagship phone from Korean maker LG, the G6, will drop from NIS 3,390 ($925) to NIS 2,890 ($789).

One of Cellcom’s chief competitors, Partner, says it will also cut prices by 15% in the wake of the tax’s cancellation, but does not announce specific prices.

Purchasing a mobile phone in Israel is an expensive proposition due to high taxes, including a 17% value-added tax separate from the now-canceled 15% purchase tax, and little competition among importers.