More than a year ago, the government raised the price of disposable utensils in order to combat their use and the environmental pollution they create. The measure was controversial and was perceived by some of the public as a tax intended to harm the ultra-orthodox. Now, about a year after the price increase, the Bank of Israel has checked how much the pocket of the consumer of disposable dishes has been damaged by examining the change in the price of disposable plastic cups.
According to the government’s decision, the price per kilogram of disposable dishes was supposed to increase by NIS 13 (NIS 11 plus VAT). However, in practice, according to an inspection by the Bank of Israel, the price increased by an average of NIS 22 per kilogram – 70% more than stipulated in the government’s decision .
According to the Bank of Israel, in the current case it seems that the difficulty of the consumers to identify the increase derived from the tax – a difficulty arising from the fact that the tax is determined on the basis of weight, which is difficult for the consumer to estimate – facilitated the excessive increase in the price. It is also claimed that it is possible that the increase in the prices of raw materials in the world and the acceleration in the rate of inflation recorded at the time also facilitated the increase in prices.