| Netanyahu: Politicians want to have Zelekha removed By Amiram Cohen 07.07.06 MK Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) said on Thursday that politicians were trying to bring about the ousting of Accountant General Yaron Zelekha. The former finance minister was speaking to kibbutz industry managers at Shefayim. Senior political sources assume that Netanyahu was alluding to current Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson. Netanyahu said that when he appointed Zelekha to his position, government ministries were purchasing items, "from a glass of juice to cellular telephone services" for NIS 25 billion a year without a tender, because there were all kinds of exemptions. "I removed all of these exemptions, and thus we saved $1 billion a year," he said. Netanyahu sharply criticized the current government, accusing it of carrying out a "pseudo-reform." An example, he added, was the open-skies policy, under which preference was given to Israeli carriers over foreign ones. "There is no reason to give give preference to Israeli companies. The result of giving a minor advantage to El Al is that we can't travel from Vienna to Lod for $150," he said. Netanyahu also said that the public sector was still filled with a number of dinosaurs that were preventing the economy from growing. Netanyahu called the Israel Lands Administration "the most horrible dinosaur." He said that "investments of tens of billions of shekels sit around waiting forever for the committees to convene once every three months. We need to remove the politicians from the ILA council, and to force the committees to meet every day. It is crucial to unfreeze lands, mostly along the main highways and interchanges. This would give a huge push to growth." The current government, he warned, was increasing public spending. If this trend were to continue, he said, it would not be possible to lower taxes and to continue structural reforms. According to Netanyahu, the taxation level that Israel should aim for is the same implemented in Cyprus - 20 percent income tax, 20 percent company tax and 20 percent capital gains tax. Our GDP, $17,500 per capita, is a disgrace," he said. |
