Hundreds of workers of large oil companies Sonol and Delek protested outside the Finance Ministry Wednesday afternoon, after the government announced that it would reduce the amount of money it transfers to the oil companies from the taxes imposed on retail gasoline.
The Finance and Infrastructures Ministries plan to reduce the cost of gasoline by reducing taxes, and the portion of the tax that they no longer will be collecting will lower the amount transferred to the oil companies from 70 agurot per liter to less than 50 agurot per liter. The oil companies said that such a reduction would hurt their bottom line, with income falling by 30% - a development that would force them to fire employees. The workers were protesting Wednesday out of fear of mass firings, they said.