"Home prices are about to fall," said Minister of Finance Yair Lapid at the Building the Future of Housing in Israel Together conference today, a day after the housing cabinet approved his zero VAT proposal for people buying their first homes.
Lapid attacked the critics of his plan, saying, "Economists, politicians, and interested parties of every stripe have been saying in the past few days that reducing VAT on new apartments is the wrong step, even if it lowers home prices. That's fine, because reducing VAT isn't intended for economists, politicians, and interested parties, but for young people in the middle class who served in the army and are trying to establish families. It doesn’t matter what kind of family - LGBT, single-parent - they all have the same rights, and these young people now know that the country cares for them and that it is really prepared to lose money, and that home prices will really fall."
Continuing the offensive, Lapid said, "There are people who do not like this plan. That is their right, but I ask them: where have you been in the past few years? Where were you when an entire generation was crushed and began migrating to Berlin and Canada? Where were you when home prices soared every month for no reason? Land is land, cement is cement, a crane is a crane, and prices have not stopped rising. So if you have no idea on how to solve the problem, let us work, that is why we are here."
Responding to reports about tensions with Ministry of Finance officials, Lapid said, "I have no interest in yes-men. I only want to work with intense people and the Ministry of Finance is full of such people."
Lapid said that the key was for all the parties to work together, including Minister of Housing and Construction Uri Ariel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of the Interior Gideon Sa'ar, and others. He added that this was the difference between the old politics and the new politics. "Prices will fall because we are continuing to work together, continuing to think outside the box, we're not afraid for a moment of new solutions just because we know the old solutions better, and we're keeping focused on the only thing that is truly important: an entire generation that is watching us and expecting us to work for it," he concluded.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 26, 2014
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