Yair Lapid
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Yuval Steinitz
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Lapid: Steinitz responsible for alcohol taxing
Finance minister says taxing reform that leads to increase in prices of alcoholic drinks is result of decision made by former finance minister
Yair Lapid
said Monday that the new taxing regulations stipulating that prices of alcoholic drinks increase should be attributed to decisions made by former Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz.
Speaking in a Yesh Atid meeting, Lapid noted that "Today the new alcohol taxing regulations and the consequent price hikes are taking effect. Many people don’t like this tax and I'm one of them. We've tried to call it off, but it's a decision made by the previous finance minister.
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"We need to uphold these agreements even if we don’t like them," Lapid added.
In response, Steinitz said he never made a decision to raise taxes, noting that "As part of the process of Israel's accession to the OECD, it was agreed that starting 2014, taxing would be adapted to the model used in OECD states, but that determining tax rates would be left to the finance minister."
The reform in alcohol prices would mean that instead of depending on price, tax rates will be set in accordance with alcohol percentage.
The decision has no effect on the prices of beer, which is not categorized as an alcoholic beverage in terms of taxing and belongs to a different tax category.
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