The Knesset’s Economics Committee began a series of discussions dealing with the cost of living in Israel, and dealt with centralization in imports and the effect of lower tariffs in the past on food and consumer product prices.
Chairman Michael Bitton opened the discussion and said that the government’s plan to lower the cost of living is limited to his liking, and only a small part of it is allocated to the weaker sections. Chairman Bitton consider transferring the amount allocated to reduce tariffs in favor of work grants to low-wage earners.
Chairman Bitton presented data from a document of the Knesset Research and Information Center, according to which the prices of frozen fish, on which tariffs were reduced in 2016, fell slightly initially but returned to the same level before the reduction. The finance representative, Gilad Katsav, said that these are many food and consumer products, but noted that he did not have the full details. Following this, Chairman Bitton announced a break of about 15 minutes. In the discussion and asked for the data.
After the debate resumed, Katsav said that parts of the plan were presented at the press conference of the Prime Minister and the ministers, but the final plan has not yet been formulated in its small details, so it is currently not possible to publish a list. The director of the Yesodot Institute, Amit Ben-Zur, commented on the reduction of tariffs in the tuna industry and said that the result was closed Israeli factories and a rising consumer price, so no one had any intention of achieving these results. What you want to give him.
Piltona CEO Yaakov Cohen said that before the reduction of customs duties there were 5 factories in Israel for the production of tuna and then only one remained. Compared to the price then did not change.He even warned that a further reduction would put the factory at a loss, the factory would be closed and the workers fired.
On the other hand, the owner of the Willy Food company, Yossi Williger, said that there is no tuna industry in Israel, because it is only packaged here. According to him, consumers will benefit from NIS 80-90 million, by lowering the price of tuna, as a result of lowering customs duties. He explained that the market is sophisticated and will have competition that will lower the price to the consumer.
MK Yaakov Margie said that there is a market failure and centralization in the food industry that needs to be addressed, and maybe only NIS 0.3 billion will reach the consumer and another billion will go to the importers’ money. MK Uri Maklev added that the value part of food production . MK Inbar Bezeq joined in and even told in tears about her father who was a fisherman and “for 20 years he got up every morning, entered the frozen waters of the Dan and left with a truck to market fresh fish in Israel.” Per kilo for NIS 1.8, the price to the consumer remains the same and hundreds of farms have closed.
The president of the business sector, Dovi Amitai, called the economic plan “live and forgot” and said: “They shoot and forget, do not check what the purpose was and do not look at previous committees that ruled that lowering tariffs does not roll over to the consumer.” To bring in 50% imports of produce. MK Nir Barkat said in response that it is a “troll.” MK Barkat added that finance officials are only looking to save on expenses, while the right policy is to see agriculture as a strategic asset.
Chairman Bitton added that pig capitalism should not be in our school, and those pigs should be caught and cared for. Now in the field to hear the Arava farmers.
Industry and Trade spokesman in the budget division of the Ministry of Finance, Noam Dan, said that meticulous work is being done on a list of customs details, which will be published in the near future for public comments. Chairman Bitton asked for the list to be passed to the committee. Dan added that the claim that lowering tariffs raises prices is unfounded, but Chairman Bitton insisted that the Knesset Research and Information Center document shows that tariff reductions in 2016 temporarily reduced the price of fish, but true For today the price is unchanged compared to the price before the reduction.
Katsav referred to claims about a target for importing 50% of agricultural production and said he did not know it. However, he noted that the import rate of agricultural produce in Israel is low compared to the world. Chairman Bitton said in response that there is snow in Europe and that it is not clear what is wrong with us supplying ourselves with produce. Small and medium.
Chairman Bitton summed up the discussion and called on the government not to reduce tariffs by NIS 1.3 billion before the inter-ministerial committee to examine the brokerage gaps concludes its work, and asked to treat Tuna as a test case and said: “Will this be a diplomat who benefits from this? There is a high chance that it is. ”
Chairman Bitton also said that the committee would like to receive, immediately upon publication to the public, the list of tariff reductions, to check whether careful thought has been given to each product. He added that the committee Players with a large market share? And intervene in this course that may harm competition. The committee asks the Ministry of Finance to examine the transfer of NIS 1.3 billion to work grants, which will be paid to low-wage earners in the same month, to tax reductions to high-wage earners, and to increase the benefits for the underprivileged by another NIS 1 billion. ”
He added that the committee would also address the issue of food security, perhaps in collaboration with the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and requested that the conclusions of the inter-ministerial committee on mediation gaps be presented to it. “This committee should finish its work in the coming weeks,” he said.