A meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Economic Affairs ended in a stalemate last night when members of the Mapai and General Zionist Parties, the major partners in the Israel government coalition, failed to agree on a general property tax. The meeting was adjourned until Wednesday, at which time a compromise is expected.
The laborites, headed by Finance Minister Levi Eshkol, insisted Upon immediate passage by Parliament of the property tax in order to provide badly needed revenue for the government. The centrist General Zionist Party, which is largely representative of middle class interests, fought the tax.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet yesterday instructed Pinchas Lavon, Mapai, Minister without portfolio, Joseph Serlin, General Zionist, Minister of Health, and Moshe Shapiro, Poale Mizrachi, Minister of Religion and Welfare, to form a committee to draft a law providing for compulsory state education and a law reforming the election statute, as pledged by the major two parties in their agreement to set up a coalition.
The Knesset was today scheduled to approve the appointment of the following Vice Ministers: Joseph Ephrati, Mapai, Agriculture; Dr. Zorach Warhaftig, Poale Mizrachi, Religion; and Rabbi S. Rosenberg, Mizrachi, Welfare.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
