The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Note to Israel: It's The Taxes, Stupid

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The Spectacle Blog

Note to Israel: It's The Taxes, Stupid

By Philip Klein on 12.24.07 @ 1:03PM

The Jerusalem Post notes that the rate of aliya--or Jewish immigration to Israel--has dropped to a 20-year low. One official laments:

"We should do everything we can to increase the rate of aliya," [Minister of Immigration Absorption Ya'acov] Edri said. "The ministry intends to invest great resources to that end in the coming years. Aliya is the single greatest Zionist enterprise in our sixty years of statehood."

Unfortunately, doing something about the problem often translates into demands for more government handouts to those who make aliya, when the actual solution would be to get the government off people's backs by lowering Israel's excessive tax burden. In Israel, Tax Freedom Day didn't come until August 2 this year, according to the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies, meaning that Israelis have to work 214 days to fund the government before they can keep the money they earn. In the U.S., that date is April 30, according to the Tax Foundation. So, an American Jew thinking about moving to Israel faces the prospect of working three more months for the government. Is there any wonder why the nation is having trouble attracting more immigrants?

topics:
Israel, Immigration