From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 30, 2024
Otzma Yehudit, Haredi faction threaten to vote against key budget bill
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Otzma Yehudit warns that it will vote against a key budget bill unless Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich halt cuts to party chairman Itamar Ben Gvir’s National Security Ministry.
In a statement, the far-right party states that such cuts directly affect the salaries of police and prison guards and threatens that “until Smotrich stops harming the police, the Prison Service, and the fire department, we will vote against the Trapped Profits Law.”
The reduction in funding to the ministry is not specific, but is part of cuts being made across the board.
Ben Gvir’s threat comes after his party has already twice voted against bills related to the 2025 state budget over ongoing disputes regarding budget cuts and his demand for the immediate termination of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
It comes on the heels of a report in the ultra-Orthodox Hamodia daily that members of the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael — a faction of the United Torah Judaism party — believes that “there is no point” in supporting the Trapped Profits Law before the issue of IDF exemptions for yeshiva students is settled, and will therefore vote against it.
The opposition of both Otzma Yehudit and Agudat Yisrael is enough to prevent the bill’s passage.
In addition, members of the opposition will reportedly attempt to block its passage with a filibuster.
The Trapped Profits Law, which was approved for its second and third readings in the Knesset Finance Committee on Sunday, is the only item on the Knesset plenum’s agenda this afternoon.
The bill would allow the government to tax so-called “trapped profits,” which are gains earned by corporations and multinationals that are not distributed as dividends to shareholders but invested in business development, infrastructure, and research and development centers.
Until now, trapped profits were tax-exempt to encourage investment in Israel. If the new tax is approved by the end of 2024, it is expected to generate NIS 10 billion in revenues in 2025.
The Times of Israel Community.