Gas prices to drop slightly after tax slashed

Some good news for once. Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman says the state will forgo half a shekel of taxes per liter of gasoline in order to bring down gas prices.

As of this month, Israelis are paying NIS 7.44 per liter ($8.76 per gallon) of unleaded gasoline, over half of which is taxes. The price is NIS 0.39 ($0.12) more than in March. With the price drop, Israelis will only pay a low low price of NIS 6.94 per liter ($8.20 per gallon).

Liberman says the change will be “immediate,” though Israeli fuel prices are only updated at the start of each month.

“We’re not hoarders in the Finance Ministry, we’re not squirreling money away; if there is the possibility of making things better and returning the money to the public, so we need to do that, and now we can return half a shekel of the tax on a liter of unleaded and a liter of diesel.”