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Feb 2, 2022
It's the economy, stupid
When they raised the taxes recently on sugary drinks it made me wonder what the effect was of another social-engineering tax that was passed a few years back. the tax on plastic bags in the supermarket. Supermarkets have to charge a 10 agura tax for each plastic bag used at checkout. This does not include the super thin bags used for vegetable s and it does not apply in almost any other store - just supermarkets (where I guess most of the bags get used). The purpose of this was to cause people to use multi-use bags and use less plastic throwaway bags.
So I was wondering if there is any information out there regarding the effect of the tax. Did it work? have people been using fewer bags since the tax was implemented back in 2017? Is the tax effective? Was 10ag per bag not enough to deter people?
I did some searching but did not find any useful information. If anyone can point me in the direction of some information I would appreciate it. I am curious because I will also be interested, after some time has passed, to see if the current taxes will have their desired effect. Will people drink less sugary drinks? Are people getting healthier because of it?
Anyways, now it seems some in the government want to expand the plastic bag tax. Not to raise the amount of the tax but to apply it more broadly.
According to Israel Hayom, a group of MKs have proposed a law to expand the plastic bag tax. They would have the tax apply moving forward on all stores, not just supermarkets. Additionally they would have the tax apply as well on those thin bags used for fruit and vegetables and meats. It would also be applied to some type of thicker plastic bag it currently does not apply to.
It seems like bad timing, considering everything else going up in price and other recent new taxes. There is only so much the people will take. Taxes might be necessary to pay for all the grants and loans the government took in the past years but as Bill Clinton said in his presidential campaign some 30 years ago, It's the economy, stupid.
The government wont last long if it keeps increasing taxes and not stemming inflation and the increase in cost of living. Some of it is the market and cannot be controlled (such as shortages of coal causing electricity prices to increase or other raw material and shipping shortages), but add to that all the new taxes and people wont allow this to continue. They will be voted out of office quickly enough if they don't take into consideration the already expensive cost of living in Israel continuing to increase at alarming rates.
Israeli voters tend to vote mostly on issues of defense as their top priority, but in these times it looks like the economy will be a much bigger factor in the coming years. The "Iran is out to destroy us" card can only be played for so long.
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Labels:
cost of living,
taxes
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https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/plastic-bag-use-down-by-75-percent-compared-to-2016-but-on-the-rise-again-674927
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