State budget: Finance minister has yet to have his final say
Zvi Lavi believes that even as Knesset Finance Committee readies to tackle new budget bill, it is too early say Yuval Steinitz has failed, especially given that he has produced an unprecedented budget proposal
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz will present the Knesset Finance Committee with the 2009-2010 budget bill on Monday, but he is unlikely to meet a favorable panel.
Knesset Member Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism), who heads the committee, has already vowed that "the bill will not leave the committee as it went in"; and MK Shai Hermesh (Kadima) has claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "is too weak to see the financial edicts through."
It is, however, to early to count Steinitz out and his actions should be viewed through the end result, and not necessarily by the means he exercised to get there. Creating the current budget bill, proved a formidable task for Steinitz, riddled with proverbial landmines – most of which were hidden by Treasury officials.
The game is a familiar one, as it repeats itself whenever a budget bill is forthcoming. The norm of getting as many clauses into the arrangement bill – which is an addendum to the budget bill – just so things can be negotiated out in order to appease those who may vote against it, is firmly rooted in political tradition.
The current budget bill has several merits – the first being the fact that this is the first time that a new government is able to present the Knesset with a budget a mere six weeks into its term. The feat is compounded by the fact that this is the first biennial budget proposal ever presented to the House.
Budget bill not above criticism
Another point in its favor is that fact that it is the first proposal ever to be backed by the Histadrut Labor Federation, as well as by various employers' groups. As such it presents a rare opportunity for "industrial peace," which has not been allotted to any government in the past 24 years. Whatever concession the Treasury made in order to ensure the Histadrut's support, can easily be reimbursed by the billions the market will save on strikes.
Nevertheless, the prime minister did have the public confused, by naming Steinitz to the Treasury and claiming the title of "financial strategy minister" for himself. The PM oversees all strategies by merit of title, but let there be no doubt – Yuval Steinitz is the finance minister. He heeds to Netanyahu's opinions and directions, but the latter will not override him.
As for the claims presented by Ram Balinkov – the now former head of the finance ministry's budget division, who said that Netanyahu's financial advisor Uri Yogev had all but ousted him from the process – his complaints suggest nothing but personal frustrations and deeply wrongs his colleagues by dwarfing their effort to see the bill presented expeditiously.
The new budget bill is not above criticism, but it is doubtful that the Knesset Finance Committee is the one to come up with rebuttals truly based on facts. The committee members are much more likely to focus their efforts on annulling the budget clause calling for VAT on produce sales. The latter has been heavily criticized, as it stands to sent fruit and vegetable price soaring.
