coronavirus lockdown
coronavirus lockdownOlivier Fitoussi/Flash90

A new report released by the Adva Center finds that the middle and lower classes were badly hurt by the coronavirus crisis over the last year, deepening the inequality problem in Israel.

According to the data, the upper class in Israel was not affected by the crisis and in the past year has only grown richer. "The upper echelon was at the forefront of the beneficiaries of protection and assistance from the state, which relieved the country's rich from the immediate burden of financing the results of the economic crisis. The crisis relief program has greatly increased government debt. Without taking steps to raise tax rates on the richest, who were not harmed during the crisis, a large part of the taxes, which will probably be introduced within a year or two to reduce debt and deficit, will be imposed on the middle class," the report said.

Those who were the most affected during the coronavirus crisis are the small businesses, which were considered before the crisis to be a catalyst for reducing unemployment.

In the past year, the crisis has struck businesses in many ways and 38,000 of them have closed. More than half of the workers placed on unpaid leave worked in small businesses.

The center warns the various government organs that they must "wake up" and internalize that it is precisely the less able who have suffered the most damage from the crisis and be prepared to assist them in any way possible.