Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein
Knesset Speaker Yuli EdelsteinYonatan Sindel/Flash 90

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Knesset Speaker MK Yuli Edelstein on Thursday evening reached an agreement on the structure of the Arrangements Law for 2017-2018.

The Arrangements Law is a government bill presented to the Knesset each year alongside the budget, and incorporates government bills and legislative amendments that are needed in order for the government to fulfill its economic policy.

Kahlon and Edelstein agreed, among other things, to include several reforms in the bill, such as reforms in the fields of communications, cost of living, the Standards Institute of Israel, welfare, health, employment, security and taxation.

Further to measures taken by the Ministry of Finance to lower the cost of living, the Arrangements Law will include taxation for a third apartment.

The law will also include a reform in pension savings for those who are self-employed, an additional allowance for old age pensions and an increase in income support for the elderly.

In addition, the law will include clauses on facilitated competition in the domestic gas market, connecting industrial plants to the natural gas network, opening the cosmetics market to imports and introducing technology that enables shared taxis.

Some 30 topics were taken out of the Arrangements Law and will be instead referred to various Knesset committees for discussion.

Finance Minister Kahlon said, “The understandings we reached enable us to continue to lead an uncompromising policy to increase competitiveness, reduce social gaps, reduce the tax burden and increase growth.

“I thank Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein who was attentive throughout the negotiations process to the needs of the economy and the citizens. The understandings we reached with him will strengthen the Israeli economy and will be beneficial to the public, while maintaining the status of the Knesset,” added Kahlon.

Edelstein said, “I am happy that at the end of the day we managed to reduce the scope of the bill so that the Knesset committees will be able to discuss all of the issues in the manner required. I call on the government to learn lessons from the process we went through in recent weeks, and in the future to submit a bill to the Knesset as part of the Arrangements Law which only includes issues that have a clear connection to the state budget and to economic growth.”