Israeli Stamp Tax Repealed

This report, written by Zvi Zrahiya, comes from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and dated December 8th.

The Israeli government's Income Tax Authority will be eliminating a "stamp tax" law that was in place since the days of the British Mandate over Palestine decades before. As Zrahiya notes, the law taxed documents, rather than economic transactions. The law was put in place only to increase the government's coffers. The original date for removing this odious tax was to be 2008, but Israel's Finance Minister asked the Authority to move the deadline up ahead.

This tax will be repealed by New Year's Day 2006.

This is very good news for businesses - especially small businesses and co-operatives - in Israel, as they still have to operate in a heavilly Socialist society. This is a positive and pro-Distributist step for the country, as this will lessen the burden on entrepreneurs and co-ops somewhat. Let the progress continue!