Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon plans to reduce taxes, Channel 2 News reports. Kahlon intends to cut either income tax or VAT. "Globes" has learned, however, that the minister of finance will wait for first quarter figures on the economy to make certain that the trend of rising tax collection continues. In 2015, the rate of VAT was lowered by 1% from 18% to 17%, and the rate of companies tax was lowered by 1.5% from 26.5% to 25%. The companies tax rate fell by a further 2% in 2016. RELATED ARTICLES Israel's debt:GDP ratio nears 2020 target Flug wants higher taxes in 2017 Kahlon's multi-home tax failure Kahlon's tax cuts will only help the rich In the past, Kahlon has ridiculed the stance of Governor of the Bank of Israel Karnit Flug, who has called for raising more revenue from taxes through rate rises or the abolition of exemptions. Kahlon argued that Flug was mistaken to the tune of NIS 15 billion, evidence of which is that even after the tax cuts the fiscal deficits for both 2015 and 2016 were below the Bank of Israel's projections by about one third. Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 6, 2017 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017
