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Aug 2, 2021
is the proposed budget cruel or benevolent?
Some are upset about the new budget proposed, and passed by the government (but still awaiting Knesset passage) saying that it actually hurts the poo while at the same time claiming to be working to bring down the cost of living and to be helping the citizens of Israel save money.
I am not an expert on the budget and its features, but I know the main points being raised as "bad".
the main points I have seen as proof that the government is out to get the poor and hurt them more are:
- tax on disposable utensils
- tax on sugary soft drinks
- cancelation of discounts for public transportation
- a tax for paying private doctors
- some sort of tax for digital services like Netflix and others
- some sort of tax when driving your private car into the Tel Aviv area (rather than using public transportation)
- opening the allowance for alternative imports to open competition - not only in the agriculture field but also in others - to bring prices down
- changes to the arnona discounts
and more
First of all, no one individual reform will be good for every single person and maybe not every individual reform is good for the majority, but the entire budget is a package and it can require increasing things on one end and decreasing on the other. it is a lot of give and take, so screaming about one or two or three lines in the budget taken out of context is fruitless.
Sure, maybe putting a tax on disposables hurts some people, but maybe they will benefit tremendously from something else in the budget, like lowering cost of living by increasing imports, that more than makes up for it. Raising taxes on disposables sounds bad, but the point is not to hurt the poor but to discourage the use of disposables that are bad for the environment - and maybe it will even save people money as they move to using regular dishes instead.
I do not even get why a tax on sugary drinks is hurting the poor. Everyone drinks Coca Cola and Pepsi, 7 Up and Sprite, not just the poor. That hurts everybody in the pocket, but minimizing the consumption of these drinks will make us all healthier in the long run, which will also save us all money on healthcare.
I assume a tax on cars driving into Tel Aviv area (and later maybe into other large cities) will not be applied to residents of Tel Aviv, but this inconvenient tax will relieve the traffic and congestion in the city, and also improve the pollution levels.
I don't know enough to say if the proposed budget overall is good or bad, cruel or kind. I do know it is not nearly as simple at looking at one or two line items and determining the nature of the budget based on that alone and saying the entire budget is bad or cruel because of a few lines taken out of context is disingenuous.
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The issue with the tax on disposable utensils, is that the negative is immediate and definite, however, the benefit is some theoretical benefit to the world that might not be significant.
ReplyDeleteI care about the environment; however, does anyone know how to quantify the benefits to the world if Israel uses less plastic? Yes, the ocean will have less plastic, but does the harm to the ocean outweigh the inconvenience of using real dishes?
If less plastic use in Israel will cause less plastic in the Ocean, will other countries then just feel less of a need to limit plastic, and there will therefore be no net benefit?
Also, the negative aspect of the tax on disposable utensils is of two types:
a) The time cost and inconvenience of those needing to use real dishes
b) The extra monetary cost for those times when people will feel the need to use disposable
In Canada, they are limiting the production of Oil (through preventing oil pipelines, and difficulty in getting permts, etc.). What is the end result? The oil is being produced by OPEC and other countries, and Canadians have less money from their oil companies, less government taxes, less money from other businesses due to the multiplier effect. Canadians lose and there is also no tangible benefit to the environment as OPEC and other countries are producing the oil.
The same thing will likely happen with disposable utensils. By Israel limiting their plastic waste, that might just delay the rest of the world from taking more action to limit their use of plastic. I think many people in Israel don’t see any real tangible benefit to the environment from their sacrifice of the convenience of disposable utensils.
AA
"saying the entire budget is bad or cruel because of a few lines taken out of context is disingenuous".
ReplyDeleteWhen's the last time anyone in politics, or even talking politics was genuine and in context? Lol! But I do agree with you.
"Poor" to a certain extent is a euphemism for "large charedi families." Hence the plastic utensal and sugar drink complaints, which go hand-in-hand with that. They don't *have* do, but they do.
ReplyDelete