Netanyahu: Tax relief on personal expenses is 'justified, but wrong time'
The motion was approved by the committee on Tuesday, which gave the prime minister nine years of tax refunds.
By TAMAR URIEL-BEERIIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures after speaking to supporters following the announcement of exit polls in Israel's election at his Likud party headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel March 3, 2020(photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday morning that the decision by the Finance Committee to give him tax relief for expenses for work in his Caesarea “was justified – but at the wrong time.“The subject is justified that I should not be charged with a personal levy that has never been imposed on any other prime minister, which is why the Finance Committee decided that there is no one law for Netanyahu and another for all other prime ministers,” Netanyahu added later on Twitter.“The timing was not at the right time, and for that I am sorry,” he concluded.The motion was approved by the committee on Tuesday, which gave the prime minister nine years of tax refunds. The proposal was passed despite the two Blue and White MKs that are on the committee who boycotted the meeting.“The opposite, Mr. Prime Minister, the opposite,” said opposition leader and Yesh Atid-Telem head Yair Lapid. “The debate is not justified because you do not deserve a million shekels from the state’s cash register when there are hundreds of thousands of unemployed and self-employed people who are facing collapse. The timing is actually justified because it reminds everyone how detached you and your government are.”Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.
