The tax reforms proposed by the Rabinovich Committee passed another hurdle today when they were approved by the relevant special ministerial committee. The reforms are scheduled to be brought for a first reading-and-vote in the Knesset next week, to be followed by a review in the Knesset Finance Committee. Finance Minister Silvan Shalom said today that he hopes the bill will be passed into law by the time the Knesset begins its summer recess. The reforms include taxation on stock profits and savings plans, lowering of income tax rates, and taxation on monies earned abroad.
Atty. Yitzchak Heimowitz, acting on behalf of the New Immigrants Organizations Council - an umbrella group representing the AACI (Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel) and 27 other new-immigrants\' groups - told Arutz-7 today that the new proposed tax on pensions and other monies earned abroad is likely to be
\"very harmful for aliyah [immigration to Israel], and could cause many immigrants to leave Israel. Many of them made aliyah based on their calculations of their income - and if they are now told that they have much less than they thought they did, it could cause many to return to their countries of origin.\"
He said that Housing Minister Natan Sharansky has been fighting this cause on behalf of the olim,
\"but Prime Minister Sharon appears reluctant to change any part of the tax-reform package, for fear that other groups will demand changes too. However, our demand is different: the money that is to be taxed was not produced or earned in Israel, but rather overseas. In addition, unfortunately some sources in the Finance Ministry are telling a half-truth - which is sometimes worse than a lie. They are saying that there will not be any double taxation, and that if you paid tax in the U.S., you won\'t have to pay again here. What they neglect to say is that if you paid 10% on your money there, and here the rate is 35%, you won\'t have to pay all 35% - but rather the difference between what you paid there and the rate here, i.e., another 25%...\"
Heimowitz is hoping that Finance Committee Chairman MK Yaakov Litzman will be more understanding of the immigrants\' plight when the tax reform package is brought before his committee later next week. He advised \"concerned citizens\" on this matter to contact Prime Minister Sharon and Finance Minister Shalom. For more on this topic, see the AACI website.
Atty. Yitzchak Heimowitz, acting on behalf of the New Immigrants Organizations Council - an umbrella group representing the AACI (Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel) and 27 other new-immigrants\' groups - told Arutz-7 today that the new proposed tax on pensions and other monies earned abroad is likely to be
\"very harmful for aliyah [immigration to Israel], and could cause many immigrants to leave Israel. Many of them made aliyah based on their calculations of their income - and if they are now told that they have much less than they thought they did, it could cause many to return to their countries of origin.\"
He said that Housing Minister Natan Sharansky has been fighting this cause on behalf of the olim,
\"but Prime Minister Sharon appears reluctant to change any part of the tax-reform package, for fear that other groups will demand changes too. However, our demand is different: the money that is to be taxed was not produced or earned in Israel, but rather overseas. In addition, unfortunately some sources in the Finance Ministry are telling a half-truth - which is sometimes worse than a lie. They are saying that there will not be any double taxation, and that if you paid tax in the U.S., you won\'t have to pay again here. What they neglect to say is that if you paid 10% on your money there, and here the rate is 35%, you won\'t have to pay all 35% - but rather the difference between what you paid there and the rate here, i.e., another 25%...\"
Heimowitz is hoping that Finance Committee Chairman MK Yaakov Litzman will be more understanding of the immigrants\' plight when the tax reform package is brought before his committee later next week. He advised \"concerned citizens\" on this matter to contact Prime Minister Sharon and Finance Minister Shalom. For more on this topic, see the AACI website.