Lapid's budget a betrayal of social justice
The 2015 Israeli budget achieves two of Finance Minister Yair Lapid's goals, but reflects the political interests of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rather than making a commitment to social justice.
When Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid faced journalists on Sept. 28, presenting the 2015 state budget, he did not conceal his pride. He has kept two of the commitments that have become over the past few weeks his personal mantra: no tax hikes and the approval of the zero value added tax (VAT) plan for first-time home buyers. Otherwise, he has threatened more than once that Yesh Atid would leave the government.
“If the last budget was a crisis budget, the current budget is one of hope and promise. Two years ago, I said, ‘We’ve come to bring about change.’ That change is happening now,” Lapid said in his festive declaration. The text itself sounded more like an opening salvo to launch a political campaign.
During Lapid's press conference, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on his way to the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York. He left a stable coalition at home, after reaching agreement on the budget with Lapid just before the Jewish New Year holiday began the evening of Sept. 24 — thereby removing the threat of early elections, at least for now.
Netanyahu, like Lapid, had reason to be satisfied with himself. Not only had his patchwork coalition been spared, but he was also able to keep his promise to expand the defense budget as part of the country’s preparedness for growing security threats. After all, for the past few weeks, he had expounded on those threats at every opportunity.
