An agreement between incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party will cost taxpayers approximately NIS 20 billion, said outgoing Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman on Tuesday, referring to a deal that will grant government subsidies to yeshiva students in order to prevent their need to join the workforce.
He further noted that he expects the incoming government to crumble under the weight of the agreements that were made in order to ensure its victory in the elections. "All the coalition agreements will lead to collapse," he said.Other such agreements include a provision in the coalition negotiations between the Likud and UTJ which guarantees 15% of every construction project of over 1,500 units to be reserved for the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) public. This decision alone would cost Israeli taxpayers over NIS 50 billion, Liberman argued on Twitter earlier this month.
"Not only will the government be fined NIS 100,000 over infractions of this provision for the benefit of a fund that will be under the exclusive control of the [incoming] housing minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, there is no doubt that a significant part of the cities will simply stop marketing and will not agree to this dictate, and thus the supply will be significantly reduced," Liberman wrote.
הממשלה החדשה קבעה סדר עדיפויות חדש - אזרחי ישראל שמשרתים בצבא ומשלמים מסים נאלצים לרכוש דירות ביוקר בזמן שאלו שלא משרתים בצבא ולא משלמים מסים רוכשים דירות בזול.
— אביגדור ליברמן (@AvigdorLiberman) December 15, 2022
UTJ MK Moshe Gafni has stated that he will do all that he can to erase any policy with “even a hint" of involvement from Liberman. Two such pieces of legislation are a tax on sugary drinks and a tax on disposable tableware, both of which are firmly opposed by the Haredi parties.