The Arrangements Law is a government bill presented to the Knesset each year alongside the Budget Law. It incorporates government bills and legislative amendments that are needed in order for the government to fulfill its economic policy.
MK Eitan Broshi (Zionist Camp) said: “There is something here that is not connected to the ‘cottage’ protests, and that is the income level of working people and which basket they can afford. When there were tax breaks we said the ability to deal with expenses should be increased. We also have to talk about income. The ‘cottage’ protest was also about low-income. A country that lets [discount supermarkets magnate] Rami Levy light a torch [on Independence Day] is a country that has gone crazy.”
MK Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beitenu) argued that if the housing and education costs are reduced, “then we will be able to deal with the food prices, although they are high.”
MK Orly Levi-Abekasis (Yisrael Beitenu) said, “The wrong decisions are being made. With every quota and tax reduction the state is giving up on revenues, but the consumer does not benefit. The state gives up on hundreds of millions of shekels, the farmers and the kibbutzim are neglected, but no one can promise that this discount will eventually reach the consumer.”
Committee Chairman MK Gafni said at the meeting’s conclusion that “with all due respect to the Finance Ministry – and I am pleased with the reforms you are implementing – the prices have not gone down. The price for farmers is lowered, but the consumer does not benefit from it. The Arrangements Law is bad. It creates bad legislation and hurts the Knesset. It cannot be used to reduce prices. The Finance Committee, including all its members, from both the coalition and opposition, will tackle the cost of living issue. We will not wait for the government.”