The Knesset Monetary Committee voted in favor of a bill to levy an annual tax on Israelis’ third apartments in order to increase the number of apartments available for sale.
Committee chairman Moshe Gafni left the meeting in anger, saying that the measure would hurt people who invested the life savings they gathered cent by cent in real estate.
Opposition MKs said that they would appeal against the bill in the High Court if it passes legislation.
The committee also emended a bill that aims to exempt chareidi schools not recognized by the state, such as those of the Eida Hachareidis, from municipal taxes. It removed certain factors from the bill which would have made it difficult to legislate.
{Matzav.com Israel}
We can’t stop investors with too much money on their hands from taking away a limited(due to severe limitations on lots available to build in Israel) resource from its primary function (people living in affordable housing), buying up and keeping the apartments empty for most of the year; basically artificially shrinking the already short supply, while ruining people’s lives in the process. We are not a communist dictatorship after all. But we sure can tax them up until they get the hint. Let them invest into something useful, such as Israeli technology companies.