Over the first 9 months of 2016, the Israeli tax authority has collected an unprecedented 216.1 billion shekel, or about $57 billion, a full 5% more than during the same period in 2015, the Finance Ministry’s Accountant General’s Management Information Division reported Sunday. In fact, in September 2016 alone Israel has collected $6.67 billion, 12.3% more than in September 2015.
According to the report, tax collection has far surpassed early forecasts at the Finance Ministry, so much so that the Finance Ministry’s Chief Economist Yoel Naveh in mid-July pushed up the 2016 forecast and set it at 282.5 billion shekel, or $74.5 billion.
The new, record tax collection is expected to impact the government budget deficit. The 2016 budget permits government a deficit of 2.9% of GNP, or as much as $9.23 billion. But based on the tax collection bonanza, it appears government could go on a mad spending spree, especially on security, and still end up with only a 2% of GNP deficit. The accumulating government deficit over the past 12 months stands at only 2.2% of GNP.
Overall, government expenses in September stood at $8.05 billion, out of which expenses came up to $6.7 billion, interest payments on the national debt was $500 million, and interest and repayment of principal to Social Security came to $820 million.
Since the beginning of 2016, government expenses came to $55.28 billion, a 7% rise compared with the same period last year. Of that, civil ministries’ expenses rose by 8.9%, while the security apparatus showed more restraint with only a 2.2% rise in spending. The original budget plan, however, called for an 11.4% rise for civil services, while the security apparatus was actually scheduled to go down by 3.7%.
