Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Israel Katz have agreed to the demands of Blue & White and the Labor party to significantly increase the planned cash handouts for the country's disadvantaged. Netanyahu and Katz met this morning with Minister of Defense Benny Gantz and Minister of Economics and Industry Amir Peretz on the matter.
According to Peretz some 800,000 Israelis will be entitled to an extra NIS 750 above the amounts agreed including those who receive social security payments, disability pensions, nursing allowances, new immigrants, the unemployed above 67 and the elderly who receive a pension supplement. It was also agreed that senior executives and officials in the public sector won't receive the handout at all.
Peretz said, "It's very important that the message will be that the disadvantaged are the top priority during this period because these are the people that need every shekel they can get and will be part of getting the economy going."
Katz had proposed that all those earning over NIS 640,000 annually and over NIS 30,000 per month in the public sector would pay tax on their grants.
Under the plan as announced last week, a family with one child will receive a one-time NIS 2,000 grant, a family with two children NIS 2,500 and a family with three or more children NIS 3,000. All other adults over the age of 18 will receive NIS 750 each.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 20, 2020
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