At an economics-oriented conference in Tel Aviv, MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni, chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, spoke. He said that he believes that there will be significant change in all aspects of the social and economic approach of the current government. "I think that the ideology of the Prime Minister has changed," he said. "Yesterday I spoke with Professor Manuel Trachtenberg. The government must change even if it does not really want to do so."
Rabbi Gafni said that his Knesset Finance Committee was already deeply involved in changes. He said that there are three anchor points of the changes: "Direct taxes on those with high incomes must rise and indirect taxes must decline. There is no reason that the tax on companies must remain at 18 percent when it was as high as 60 percent in the past.
"The second anchor is concentration in the economy. The consequence of this concentration is sky high prices because there is no real competition on most areas of the local economy. For example, we had a discussion of customs duties on imported fish that are imposed to protect local fish farmers. The director of the Farming Ministry said that after all the current customs and taxes, the fish costs 30 shekels to the importer. Go to a supermarket and you will pay 60 shekel. Someone is making dramatic profits with no justification.
"The third anchor is the public. I support public protest, but on the other hand we see when a new store opens the public pounces and buys whatever is available, without asking questions."
Rabbi Gafni comments, "A lot of times after I appear in the media they ask me if I learned economics in a university because they do not understand the concepts I referred to. No, I did not study economics at a university. But I learned it quickly and I hope correctly."
