Likud leaders, led by Premier Menachem Begin, made strenuous efforts today to persuade Tami Party officials to change a decision made yesterday by the party’s secretariat to quit the coalition, but without success.
Tami leaders, led by Labor and Social Affairs Minister Aharon Uzan, met with Begin and argued strongly against government plans for a 10 percent increase in the sales tax on consumer goods, asserting that many of the items which will be affected by the increase are not in the luxury category and that the tax would hurt low-income families. The proposed increases are part of a series of major changes in government income and outlays aimed at bringing Israel’s runaway inflation under control.
Begin did not reply to the complaints by the three-member Knesset faction but asked Uzan to postpone action to permit further talks in the hope some arrangement could be made by which Tami would remain in the Likud-led coalition. Uzan said he did not believe any Treasury action could change Tami’s pullout decision unless the proposed additional sales tax on luxury items was cancelled.
Tami leaders also are unhappy about some of the budget cuts Aridor has proposed, one involving plans to charge an estimated 330-Shekel education fee monthly for school children.
The cancellation of increased sales taxes was indirectly rejected by Finance Minister Yoram Aridor who emerged yesterday from a self-imposed silence during the swirl of controversy created by his proposals to cut the next government budget by 55 billion Shekels.
Defending his economic policy, Avidor criticized at a press conference efforts of “pressure groups” for changes in his budget proposals. He also criticized those who proposed budget cuts and then, when such cuts were introduced, continued to criticize the government.
Uzan denied today that Tami has started talks with the Labor Alignment opposition to form a new government if the Likud-led coalition falls, declaring that Tami did not intend to bring down the government only to create an alternative government. However, during a TV interview yesterday, Uzan said the days of the current coalition were “numbered.” Tami’s central committee meets next week to approve the Tami secretariat’s recommendation to quit Begin’s coalition.
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