Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday addressed the annual tax conference of the Chamber of Tax Advisors in Eilat, outlining the government’s economic and security direction for the coming years.
Smotrich announced plans to lower taxes on employment income and promote Aliyah through substantial tax benefits. He also emphasized the need to scale back the defense budget and improve fiscal efficiency.
“We will reduce taxes on employment income to encourage workforce participation and boost productivity,” Smotrich stated. “We will ease the burden on the middle class, which bore the brunt of the war - economically and through reserve duty. They brought victory and should be the first to benefit from its economic fruits.”
He added that the government would advance Aliyah by offering “dramatic tax incentives,” calling it “a Zionist move that will bring valuable human and financial capital to Israel, which will also help drive economic growth.”
On foreign policy, Smotrich referred to the Abraham Accords, asserting that while Israel will work to expand the agreements, it will not compromise its core values. “We must insist these be peace-for-peace agreements - genuine peace based on truth, not the lie of establishing a terror state that threatens our future and existence. No one is doing us a favor by normalizing relations. We have always extended a hand for peace, but we will not pay for it by relinquishing parts of the Land of Israel.”
He added: “Anyone who imposes such unreasonable and dangerous demands - we’ll manage just fine without them for another 77 years, as we have until now.”
Addressing the defense budget, Smotrich said the system must now operate within a responsible fiscal framework. “The defense establishment must become more efficient. While the budget will remain higher than it was before the war, it cannot continue at the levels of the past two years, during which it essentially received a blank check. We must return to normal figures.”