A restless recess: The Knesset is on summer recess, but today it convened for a stormy recess debate, which dealt with the zero-VAT law.
MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) attacked Finance Minister Yair Lapid, saying: "Every day another economist comes up and says how bad this law is. I don't remember a case from Knesset committees where they didn't find someone in the entire Middle East who would speak in favor of the law.".
Me to teach him to listen to others too. It's unbelievable how much money the state is going to spend on this. A reformed state that is ending a war in Gaza, and must fill the warehouses, invest in tunnels, compensate the residents of the south. With 3 billion shekels, it would be possible to compensate the residents of the south, and the Minister of Finance prefers to continue to play around with zero VAT. A"I don't remember a case where a civilized country could do such a thing.""
Gafni added: "Many Haredim have come to me and told me that we are harming them because this law benefits them, so you should know that with all due respect to the Haredim, there is also a state here, and it is impossible to do something that will ultimately cause serious damage to the economy.".
Lapid responded to the motion for order that was submitted, and continued to defend the law, ""It's time for us to show responsibility towards our younger generation and allow young couples in the State of Israel to purchase an apartment. The discussion on the basis of the law in recent weeks has turned into a circus, and instead of dealing with the essential things, we are dealing with gimmicks. We forget that for the first time, the state is willing to give up revenue and invest in citizens. There are those who, without this law, would never have an apartment.".
Lapid attacked the opponents and said, "People are sitting in this house and trying to rob the generation that holds the country on its shoulders of the only chance they have of having an apartment. This law is built on the values of military and civilian service, and the state's role is also to maintain its values. We forget that apartment prices have risen here by tens of percent in recent years. Previous governments preferred to ignore the problem because they were afraid that exactly what is happening here now would happen to them. This law is not a goal, it is a means to enable the middle class to purchase an apartment. It is part of a broad plan that addresses housing problems in depth. The state preferred to profit at the expense of young couples instead of helping them. We were elected to change the national order of priorities, and that is exactly what we are doing now.".
Referring to the 2015 budget, Lapid said, "This will also be the case in the new budget and I pledge not to raise taxes. Treat the public like a dairy cow, there is no longer anywhere to milk. The new budget puts the working person at the center and will help both the middle class and those who want to be part of the middle class. Change has a price and there will always be people who fear change, but that doesn't mean we will continue to make it.""
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