

Naftali Bennett
Photo: Yariv Katz
Habayit Hayehudi chairman continues to surprise: Naftali Bennett
on Thursday posted a message on his Facebook page in which he proposed to cut NIS 3 billion from the defense budget.
"The government has handed out money it doesn't have and that's why we have a NIS 20 billion deficit," he wrote. "Politicians prefer to not talk about it now as we're heading to elections."
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He criticized Shelly Yachimovich's economic plan, claiming it was unrealistic. "What do you do? First, you don't increase the deficit target. And you don't promise an extra NIS 138 billion in expenditure as Yachimovich is doing. There just isn't (any money)."
Bennett stressed that cuts should not be made in the combat forces but in overhead expenses.
The Habayit Hayehudi leader is proposing spending the 3 billion on integrating dependents into the work force, optimizing the public sector, cutting the government's budget, fighting money laundering and welcoming haredim and Arab women into the work force. "Less payments for them, more income tax for us all."
But Bennett also admitted that there might be a need for tax hikes depending on the extent of the cuts. "These are tough measures but there will be no other choice."
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