Knesset Finance Committee chairman MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) used the opportunity of addressing the Association of Insurance Brokers and Agents in Israel Conference in Eilat to speak against Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon's idea of taxing a third housing unit. "A bill for taxing a third housing unit will not pass the Finance Committee. Raising the purchase tax won't lower housing prices. Instead of attacking the root of the problem by halting speculation in state-owned land and increasing the supply, attention is being diverted in the wrong direction," he said.
Gafni also commented on the Economic Arrangements bill, specifically its effect on insurance agents. "For you, last year's Arrangements bill was unnecessary from the beginning, and gave people nothing. The regulator's authority and the inability of the Finance Committee to supervise her are scandalous. The agents are part of the system, and must not be excluded from the beginning of decision-making. I promise that even though they have given reform committee head MK Eli Cohen the authority to establish the Capital Market Authority, I won't give up for a minute. No measure by the Ministry of Finance Capital Markets, Insurance, and Savings Division affecting the Israeli public will pass without the Finance Committee's consent. Supervisor of Capital Markets, Insurance, and Savings Dorit Salinger should be here; it's a shame she did not come.
"It will be a shame on the Knesset if the current Arrangements bill passes. 80 bills, some of which do not concern the budget at all, cannot pass in such a short time," Gafni declared.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 21, 2016
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