The Cabinet decided today to levy a series of taxes to help pay for the Lebanon campaign.
They include a two percent levy on stock and bond purchases on the stock exchange a 25 percent increase on the current 12 percent value added tax, bringing VAT to 15 percent; and a special 600 Shekel ($25) tax on all Israelis going abroad.
The travel tax, which Finance Minister Yoram Aridor insisted was not a travel tax, will be in force until September 30 “so that Israelis going abroad instead of vacationing in Israel can help pay for the campaign while other Israelis are still serving in the army.”
The other levies are to be imposed until the end of the current financial year, when the Knesset con reconsider them.
Aridor estimated that the new levies will bring in about $15 billion Shekels ($750 million) this year.
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