Eat your vegetables (while you can)

May 25, 2009 - 11:21 AM by David

The Mahane Yehuda shuk in Jerusalem - prices on the way up?

We’ve got so many problems on our plates right now in Israel – the Iranian threat, Hamas, Hizbullah, the debate about settlements and illegal outposts. But it’s encouraging to note that not every issue is a life or death existential conundrum.

Sometimes it also comes down to fruits and vegetables. Hundreds of vendors and growers are expected to converge on the Knesset this week as the Knesset Finance Committee prepares to discuss the country’s draft budget for 2009, which includes imposing a 16.5% value added tax on fruits and veggies. Currently there is no VAT on those items, and those food staples are still affordable among all segments of society.

“The increase will cause problems throughout all of the economy, from restaurants to falafel stands to canned goods, and will ultimately lead to inflation,” warned Likud MK Miri Regev, who was planning to do a walkabout in her local vegetable shuk in Kiryat Gat to protest the tax.

A family spending 500 shekels ($125) a month on fruits and vegetables would find their bill increased by over 82 shekels – no small amount when you’re living on a budget.

“In a period of recession, we expect that people should have more money to invest into the economy, and this proposition would do exactly the opposite. The increased VAT will become an engine that will stop the economy,” Regev told the Jerusalem Post.

“We have absorbed a lot of difficulties and decrees,” said Meir Yifrach of the Vegetable Growers Association, “but this time we won’t sit quietly.”

Regev met with Finance Committee Chairman MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ) and secured invitations for produce-sellers, including supermarket owner Rami Levi and owners of market stalls, to come and testify before the committee on the impact of the proposed tax.

According to the Post, Regev also plans on meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to try to convince him to remove the clause from the budget before it is voted on by the Knesset in the coming weeks.

“I am sure that the prime minister, who showed responsibility by canceling the social-welfare cuts that the Finance Ministry’s accountants had included in the budget, will do the same for this,” said Regev.

Fruits and veggies in season have always been a staple at our house, and it would be shame to find them suddenly turned into ‘premium’ items overnight.

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