Congressional Interview regarding Tax
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by Justin Moore
This is an interview that was mailed to Every congressional Member last night, Below you will see the Interview, and then the answers word for word un-edited that I received here at thoughts and views.
Would you please complete and Interview of Thoughts and Views.
It appears that Lowering the Import Tax on a lot of products such as food and grain have become rather popular in Israel at this time.
I would like to take a moment to dig into this topic with some of our congressional members to get clarification, not necessarily challenge, but get clarification.
Did you support and vote to lower import tax’s on grain and food?
If so, why? Name the advantages and dis-advantages that you see
Would you support lowering the Import Tax on other products as well, if so which ones and why?
Did you conform to party line views in your decision as some are saying about some of our congressional members?
Thank you for taking the time to complete this interview process for “Thoughts and Views”
****A COPY OF THE INTERVIEW WAS SENT TO EVERY CONGRESSMAN FROM EVERY DISTRICT+*+*
these are the responses I received
CJWILLWIN
One of the main reasons I supported lowering imports on food/grain is that every Israeli citizen needs them daily and our markets will never be as good, because of our lack of high grain area. I could see raising imports on food, but lowering that on grain as reasonable, but overall I found BuzzyTheCat's argument very well thought out.
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I might support different ones at different times, it would depend on what Israel needed at the time.
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I don't know what the party lines are, so I guess not.
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Scoots
I believe lowering the import taxes to a certain extent is a good thing. Down to 15% is perhaps too much, considering it doesn't give native businesses enough of an advantage. Perhaps something in the rage of 5-7% Income tax and 20% import tax would strike the proper balance of giving foreign businesses an area to offload spare products or to branch out, while at the same time giving eIsraeli businesses the edge needed to compete.
I do believe other sectors of the economy need to be looked at on an individual basis, but over all, I support lowering taxes across the board.
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Avi ben hamo
I did supported to lower Grain taxes and food.
Israel have no Grain in our territory so in order to support our food company we lowered the grain taxes. this way food cost will b lowered and ppl in israel will b able to purcash food in lower prices.
i also support lowering Food taxes but not all the way down.
if we lower the food taxes to minimum the food companies in israel can and will go bankrupt. many companies in other countries will invade our market with lower prices of food and that will make our food companies lose money and eventualy close.
I think that talkin abt other taxes is not the issue right now cuz the main issues r food and grain but i will say 1 thing: If we go crazy with lowering all taxes we might risk our country go bankrupt since the main income for Israel is the Taxes.
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Bada Boom
look at the law proposals and check if they have a good reason for doing so or if it doesn't conflicts with my personal ambitions for israel.
For grain I voted NO and for food I voted YES.
We have companies who manufacture grain lvl 1 and 2 and they offer them in pretty comfortable price, meaning we should help the eIsrael companies grow.
In the food sector it is not like this. The eIsrael companies only provide with 1 to 3 Q and some people need 4 or 5 Quality. Since we can't supply them here, we should help those people get the food they need from other countries and not overcharged. My only problem with this is that companies 1-3 Q will decide to export to us,damaging our economy.
I would support lowering Import Tax only if thoes products are needed by citizens of eIsrael and cannot be manufactured here.
As I can see , the only high Import Tax product are: gift, moving tickets and houses.
People don't need gifts with over 1 Q and therefor I will oppose to lowering Import Tax. The same is in moving tickets.
In the houses buisness we have a problem. We have house companies here but from some reason they don't put their product in the market. If we lower that tax, these companies will bankrupt and we don't need that, but on the other hand some people need houses. If people will demand houses I will personaly check with the owners of the house companies and see what can we do.
I am saying and voting for what I believe is right non regarded to what my party voted for.
Happy to answer your questions, hope I helped.
Bada Boom.
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Atoner
I'm very sorry but I don't have time for Interviews right now.
(typical)
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Basaar
Hello Jsutin Moore.
I do support lowering the import taxes at eIsrael, and here is some of the considerations i made:
Lowering import taxes can help eIsrael develop quick due to:
-Less import taxes - means more money to eIsrael, the lower the import taxes the better chance of company owners to ship and sell products to eIsrael and by that (due to the taxes) donate money to eIsrael.
-Less import taxes - means more products in eIsrael, if you have been noticing eIsrael might be a small country, but she requires a lot of products.
Lowering the import taxes will cause outsiders to import products to eIsrael and increase product's sum.
Not mentioning some eIsraely companies has a monopol at some markets which causes them to control this kind of market, and that isn't suppose to happen.
-Mabye lowering the import taxes will cause some Israelie companies damage because of the lack in customers, but lowering the taxes to a point when eIsrael's companies has there home shipping advantage is the best.
As you see eIsrael has a lack at almost any product which means she needs to lower her taxes at all the products type, BUT lowering them too much will have high and havy effect.
Hope i helped.
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Bachir Gemayal
I did and did not support the tax. First, in principle, I believe that eIsrael can only become economically viable and successful with lower taxes. Nevertheless, this tax change was not a sweeping tax change as I had originally hoped for.
I voted for the tax change in the hope that down the line a more sweeping and viable tax change could be implemented. Pres. Sadeh Badeh claims that the taxes will need to stay at this level to keep the government viable and functioning. My biggest critique of that is that I want to see numbers--aka viable accounting and accountability for the money/gold we have floating around.
I would support lowering taxes on ALL products in this country, including the import tax. I keep seeing some level of protectionism in this country. Realistically speaking, we do need some sort of protection for native companies. However, it should be restricted to a bare minimum.
My party views are 99% in line with what I believe, I also share much in common with the more vocal members of the Likud Party---> Low taxes, strong defense, strong regaining our land vs. the eTurks, I personally believe there is a lot of impropriety with some congress members/leaders in eIsrael. Nevertheless, if my party does not support a decision I make, that is their choice. I am an individual and I "build my own roads".
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Buzzythecat’s response
As for the party line idea... No I really don't. In my time in the game I have done what I personally see best. I have never compromised myself. This has lead to me being called some less than flattering names in my career, but I certainly have not bent over to avoid it. If you look at my article on grain taxes, my proposed grain tax was much lower than that proposed by my party. And in all honesty, I could leave the IWP, create a one man party, and my proposals and feelings would be exactly the same. In fact I have been toying with this idea a lot lately as I actually see being a member of the IWP to be detrimental to being taken seriously. Instead of people attacking your ideas or your policy on merit...being a member of the IWP, all they have to do is push out a few "he is a Sadeh fanboy" or "more IWP politics right there" lines and they have effectively ended any and all debate within the proposed policy. Everything after that will just be more name calling, personal attacks, etc.I in fact proposed the lowering of import taxes on grain and food. In the case of grain, I also proposed the bill which lowered its income tax to 5%.
The advantages are numerous. First Israel has not Q4 or Q5 food on the market. Secondly, the food we do have is over priced. Our Q3 food is nearly 75% over priced when compared to world food prices. The lowering of the import tax not only means that more food will be available, it also means that our domestic companies will have real competition in their industry, which means cheaper prices all around.
I would support lower import taxes on a few other items such as gifts, but not to the extent that I did with food. A 25% import tax on gifts would work out well. As of right now, I believe that the weapon import tax should remain the same. We have a decent amount of Q1,2,and 3 weapons on the market for a country the size of Israel, and our military gets its weapons from non-commercial distributors. In the same vein, moving tickets are also well stocked for our country size.
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Leroy Bloodshed
no to lowering tax on imported food
yes to lowering tax on imported grain (though i don't agree with as low as the last proposal)
we only had a handfull of companies producing grain, they were making a nice profit, but at the expense of citizens paying who at the time 1.6 - 1.7 NIS for Q1 food (to high for unskilled low ranked employees to afford)
no to lowering taxs on other imported goods. food is a staple item, it directly effects wellness which should be our priority to keep everyones health high. high wellness leads to high production, which means higher profits for company owners, who then can afford to pay higher wages or expand their business.
no, i vote based off of the issue, not party lines (which most of the time parties members aren't even aware of)
i expect that this is a "blind" questioneer and names are confidential (in other words the importance is on the data collected instead of people/parties)
your welcome 🙂
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Gaius Flaminus
Yes, I supported the lower tax on imported grain and food.
I did so for two reasons. First, food is essential to every citizen of eIsrael, and the more we have access to, the better. Second, multiple proposals were made to lower the price of food. If people are insisting on an issue thats been voted down, something needs to change. The first one was too radical, so I voted no. The second one was better, so it got approved. We have no Q4 or Q5 food, which is a problem. If this threatens our Food and grain companies we can always raise import taxes again.
The disadvantages didn't seem too bad. Grain and food our (obviously) cheaper, but our own companys are still protected by a tariff. Also, it might be harder to sell food.
I voted along party lines, because we just happened to see eye to eye. I didn't conform though. If our party voted no on an issue, but people asked me to vote yes, I would. Congressmen represent them after all.
These are the answers I have gotten thus far in regards to the interview process, more are still trickling in, I want to thank all of you have have done the congressional thing and participated.
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Comments
the new food and grain tax is good. maybe 1% import on grain will be better but it is not that important.
country without regions with high resources cant maintain land companies. the products will always be too expensive.
cheap grain from other countries will help the local food companies to make cheaper food. which enable the opening of the food market for competition from other countries without the fear of destroying the local industry.
this way food lvl that is not created in israel will arrive to the country.
other products also shouldn't cast too much to provide since there are no taxes on diamonds/oil/iron. that means that import taxes shouldn't be too high on presents/tickets/weapons too. but since it seems that the local market provides it in a good quantity, there is no need to open these markets for competition from other countries.
This is really visionary as a way to communicate what other congressmen are thanking. Im glad the other guys are so well thought out and concise about their stances.
One thing I will argue as a grain company owner. Imported grain will come at a cheper price to the people of Israel as some countries have a higher resource pool and can produce more for less. This means that local companies such as myself and national and the q1 grain companies will have to lower our prices as well. In lowering our prices to compete we will have to lower employee wages to keep the company afloat or make a small profit. This will create a lower paying job for the employees, and will create a trickle down effect in all other markets.
Also, with lowering import tax on food. We have internal food companies that make food, they get their grain from us, and foreign countries. If we allow foreign food companies to sell food to the people of Israel, it is taking away business from domestic food supply companies and will eventually lead to cuts in salary which is non-exsistant now, and layoffs and bankrupt companies, all the while we are supporting foreign workers with our NIS.
There is two ways to look at this, and I hope my view is understood.
the salary in eIsrael is already low. local grain with high price wont help the citizens. expensive grain= expensive food. i am sorry, but if this country want the best for it's citizens, it must dump all the land working and move to manufacturing and construction. it cant be helped.
thats the wrong way to look at the grain and food industry. What you fail to realize is that we can make grain prices and food prices fair while keeping a fairly strong internal workforce with fair and good wages, when we allow these imports it will cripple the industry most likely all together in the long run.
We are moving to form a grain union and several grain companies are already holding talks to create standard wages at grain plants across the board, and standard market prices. If we keep allowing importers to undercut us, we will undercut them and lower wages of our employees if it comes to that and it will be the governments issue all together, but the last time i checked the government owned some grain and food companies for emergencies so it wouldnt really matter if we went out of business and the imports stopped or slowed, the government would just fill the market in our place.
I'm a congressmenm, but didn't recieve this interview, so donm't criticize those who haven't responded when they might not have recieved any letter in the first place.
I apoligize publicly as I did miss about three congressional members in my chain mailing last night. No harm taken I hope, I had already addressed the other three privatly. Sorry Thain
It's no big deal, but if I'm one of the three you didn't adress me; I believe you're confused. But no harm done.
Justin, I just have one point of contention to your grain theory. Since Israel holds no high grain regions, our grain production is effectively cut in half.
Currently, Israeli grain, even with domestic companies, is roughly 3 times the price that it is in other parts of the world. If you were to pay a land worker what they were really worth when compared to their production on a world scale, everyone up to skill 5 would be making minimum wage. Grain should really be below .30 NIS (.27 NIS is the current world "low price")per unit for Q1 ... however it is over 1 dollar simply because Israel holds no High regions.
BuzzyTheCat, I'm sure that Israel has enough resources of grain just to produce for Israel only. If we want to export anything from Israel, we really need a lower currency. 0.016 or 0.017 / NIS should be better.
Justin Moore:
I understand your pique as an owner of a grain company, but the fact remains, your company's inability to provide grain at a cheaper price is indirectly causing the prices of food to be out of reach lower skilled workers. Q1 food should be under 1NIS, currently its about 40% higher than it ought to be. That lower skilled workers can't even afford to purchase food with the minimum wage is a serious problem, both to the health of our economy and keeping new players who join eIsrael in the game. If you couldn't afford to even buy food, would you keep playing this game?
So one of two things MUST happen. Food prices must come down, or the minimum wage must come up to a level where all workers can afford the bare minimum to survive.
@Eliberator... yes, we produce "enough" grain...the problem is, our grain is more than 3 times more expensive than in just about every other country in the world.
Right now, the cheapest domestic grain is selling at 1 NIS per unit for Q1... If Israeli grain was in line with the rest of the world, it should be selling for about .26 NIS per unit for Q1
which will result in the much cheaper food we all want... but guess it will take them some time to understand that.
Hope my answers didn't sounds stupid
but at the same time eventually leading to lower wages for anyone in the grain sector or no job at all leaving them looking for low skilled jobs in other sectors still only able to buy q1 food. Boy oh boy what an eWorld.
Good thinking Justin. I liked the style pertamaxxx, voted and subbed.