Trajtenberg Committee

The Trajtenberg Committee (Hebrew: ועדת טרכטנברג) is a commission appointed by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on August 8, 2011 in order to examine and propose solutions to Israel's socioeconomic problems. The committee was established following the 2011 Israeli housing protests. The committee is headed by professor Manuel Trajtenberg, who is the chairman of the Higher Education Planning and Budget Committee.

Contents

Background

The Commission

On August 8, 2011 Prime Minister Netanyahu appointed a special committee headed by Professor Trajtenberg.

The committee is to operate for a month, during which it will hold discussions with representatives of the protesters, with civil society organizations, and with various sectors of the public. Afterwards, in mid-September, the committee will make its recommendations to the government's socio-economic cabinet, headed by Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and composed of 15 ministers. After that, the government will discuss the committee's conclusions.

Members

The committee includes 14 permanent members, 9 of whom are government or public officials and five of whom are from the academia and the private sector.[1][2][3] Two ministers, Michael Eitan and Limor Livnat, were appointed as observers in the committee.

Commission members as of August 16, 2011, include:

Goals

The committee was ordered to investigate:

  1. Proposals to change priorities in order to lighten the load of Israeli citizens.
  2. Implementation of a new taxation system.
  3. Providing access to social services.
  4. Increasing competition in the Israeli economy.
  5. Actual measures need to be taken to reduce housing prices.

Knesset approval

In December 2011 the Knesset approved a series of amendments to Israel's tax law. These included an increase in the capital gains tax rate from 20% to 25%.[4]

References

External links