A Jerusalem think tank has officially confirmed what every Israeli worker already knows: the government takes a bigger bite of his/her paycheck than the employee him/herself.
A study published by the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies (JIMS) on Wednesday -- proclaimed by JIMS as "Israel Tax Freedom Day" -- said that almost two-thirds of Israeli salaries actually go to pay some form of government tax.
Tax Freedom Day marks the day, JIMS announced, when the average Israeli "stops working for the government, and starts earning money for private consumption (or savings.) It answers the question, 'What price is the nation really paying for government services?'"
According to the study, residents of the Jewish state will have worked 200 days on average in 2009 in order to pay taxes, and only 165 days out of the year for themselves. In 2008, Israelis worked only 197 days in order to pay taxes before being able to begin earning income.
The rate is calculated by taking the ratio of total taxes paid by the Israeli population over Israel's net national income (NNI), JIMS says. The calculation included all taxes paid, including income tax, VAT, local taxes, import taxes, car and fuel taxes, and service taxes.
In 2008, the government spent approximately NIS 41,406 ($10,350) per individual Israeli and more than NIS 165,000 per family of four (approximately $41,250).