Somebody’s Raising Taxes on the Rich

Manuel Trajtenberg and Bibi Image by Getty Images

Writer-at-Large Jane Eisner December 12, 2011

The growing ideological connection between the Republican Party in the United States and the Netanyahu government in Israel doesn’t extend to tax policy, it seems. With little fanfare, the Knesset last week approved an increase in corporate taxes and personal taxes on the very rich, going where the GOP here threatens never to tread.

The legislation was prompted by recommendations in the Trajtenberg Committee report, a government-appointed group charged with responding to the social justice protests that roiled Israel through the summer and fall. While the percentage changes may not sound like much — corporate taxes will go up to 25% from 24%, while the highest tax bracket for the very rich will rise to 48% from 45% — it’s the trend line that’s significant. When Benjamin Netanyahu was campaigning for prime minister, he promised to lower taxes by 2017.

Now he’s raising them.

Discussing the move with a small group of journalists on Monday, Manuel Trajtenberg was gratified. The esteemed Israeli economist had marched in the social protests himself before he was asked to oversee the government’s response. He applauded Netanyahu’s willingness to consider the committee’s recommendations, though he reserved his biggest compliments for the protesters themselves.

“A whole generation of young people in Israel discovered they have a voice,” he said. “How this will play out, nobody knows.” But he is certain that the movement — broad-based, rooted in the middle class, concerned about social well-being — will transform Israeli society. “We’re in the presence of something big.”

I wonder if the politicians in this country who are so resistant to these sort of moves will take notice.

Jane Eisner was editor-in-chief of the Forward from 2008 to 2019.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward. Discover more perspectives in Opinion. To contact Opinion authors, email [email protected].

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO