Finance Ministry announces budget surplus of NIS 7.7 billion for 2007
Surplus due to higher revenue, lower expenditure than expected for 2007, although gov't spent more than in 2006.
By Moti Bassok and Haaretz Service Tags: Finance Ministry Israel budgetThe Finance Ministry published statistics Tuesday indicating that the government has a budget surplus of NIS 7.7 billion for first 11 months of 2007. The reason for the surplus was higher revenue than expected and low expenses. In the corresponding period last year, the government budget's surplus stood only at NIS 2.3 billion.
The surplus will be most likely used for decreasing the state's debts. In February of this year, the government already had a surplus of NIS 5.4 billion, and in the first trimester the amount had reached NIS 7.1 billion.
From the beginning of 2007, expenditure from government offices reached NIS 160.6 billion, as opposed to the NIS 152.9 billion during the same period in 2006, signaling an increase of 5 percent.
In the 2007 state budget, the state allocated a minimum increase of 6.6 percent in government offices' expenditure as opposed to the allocated budget in 2006. In other words, the government offices' expenses were much lower than planned.
Government offices have currently used only 87.9 percent of their yearly budget, while tax revenue stood at 98.1 percent of the expected revenue. Since the beginning of the year, the Tax Authority reported a NIS 11 billion surplus in tax collection with regard to the original budget plan. Between January and November of 2007, the Tax Authority reported an overall revenue of NIS 171.6 billion as opposed to last year's NIS 161 billion in the same period.
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I was most impressed with the tragic but true view of modern day Israel expressed by Reuben Moses in his essay WHY IT IS IMPERATIVE ... As sarcastic as he gets, his picture of today's corrupt rule and complacent populace is right on target. However, a personal axe to grind gets in the way and pollutes an otherwise powerfully biting essay. He wrote: Values might include the study of Torah, putting the world right (tikkun olam), and democracy. The first of these values poses no direct threat to the oligarchy, so budgets for religious schools are generous to say the least. But the secular schools, where the latter two values are emphasized, pose a serious threat to government. Tikkun olam implies equality of opportunity, while a healthy democracy teaches citizens to look critically at the society that they live in and create. These are anathema to the newly emerging oligarchy, and have to be strangled at birth. The religious, that is the religious state schools are having their budgets slashed over the last few years, because more than any other system, they teach love of land, God and heritage. For the same reason, Yuli Tamir wants to curb the number of graduates from these schools who volunteer to teach Judaism to secular schools that invite them to join the staff as national service. I don't say this to knock hiloni -- secular -- schools, but for many non dati teachers, getting through the curriculum is hard enough without teaching Yiddishkiet. (How many highschool graduates today could speak intelligently about what 'tikkun Olam', a concept used by Mr. Moses, even is?}. State religious schools often have a mixed bag of students as well as teachers; dati, mesorati, and un aligned. You have a much greater chance of seeing a varied political spectrum in these schools than others. Two years ago, we saw the Sharon Government - what has metastasized into the Olmert government-- rip Jewish families out of their homes and turn them into homeless victims. Much money was spent convincing the public that they were provided for, but anyone who knows the truth saw how the country was lied to, and how the victims were, for the most part , abused. There have been many essays in the press by people who supported the governments decision, but deplore how it was handled. Many public figures who supported the move have also publicly admitted that it was a grave error. (I'm just saying this to point out to the unaware that my opinion here is shared by many). My point is that the expulsion-- and this was made very clear at the time -- was the beginning of the end of values in this country. Certainly a government that has perpetrated such crimes on it's bravest, most dedicated people is not going to put education -- or fighting pollution, or combating corruption --among its priorities. As Reuben Moses so aptly puts it, only values can defeat Olmert! / Barry Silverberg
Abe, it seems you are ignorant of the American aid agreement. Allow me to shed some light on your blissfully ignorant state. 1)80% of American aid is to be spent on the purchase of american produced products and weoponry. This in effect is a US subsidisation of its own industries. 2) other US aid is classified as US investment in Intelligence and the propogation of American interest in the area. Nothing is given for nothing. Have a good day.
You would know that for a country as in debt as Israel, you need to repay your debts or else you will be spending too much money on interest.
Before all the need to spend on this and need to spend on that crowd come along - the money should rightfully be returned to where is came from - reducing the rate of taxation for the 40% of us who are funding the public sector, the Yeshiva sector and this surplus.
Yet we send money for the hungry children. I don·T get it. Maybe I should send my accountants to Israel, something is wrong. I saw the revenue figures....!Doesn·T make sense, always begging for money, what a sham.
How is it then that the elite brains of our universities are not paid adequately, and thus leave en masse to go where they are appreciated abroad?
And, in the month of December, the school year has yet to begin in the country's public high schools? Something is very wrong with the SmOlmert government's priorities.
Depend on the US taxpayers