Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism) has decided to extend through the end of 2024 an exemption on the tax for sweetened drinks, Kan Reshet Bet reported Wednesday morning.
The decision comes just under two weeks after reports said that Smotrich would reinstate the tax. Shortly after the reports made headlines, Smotrich's office said that they had been published by mistake.
At the same time, the Finance Ministry also announced that it would extend an exemption from the tax on disposables through the end of 2024.
The tax was imposed during the period when Yisrael Beytenu's MK Avigdor Liberman served as Finance Minister, and it was canceled by Smotrich after he took office.
In the explanation given in the earlier report noted that the manufacturers of these sweet drinks did not drop the price as has been expected, "so that the drop in the State's income from tax was not fully felt by the consumer."
During a party meeting, Smotrich said that what had been published regarding reinstating the tax on sweet drinks "was put out by mistake."