For the Second L Year in a Row... RATIONAL page 71 I am opposed to the govern- ment's deep involvement in the education system, which costs us annually more than $20 billion, a very sizable portion of the over- all budget; we must find ways to save here. Recent years' wage agree- ments have left the teachers with high salaries. We should now use these in order to instill greater independence in management. Perhaps the most disap- pointing feature in your per- formance so far has been your failure to reduce activi- ties, and its consequent taxa- tion expansion. Isn't this an affront to your party's pre- election Thatcherist talk? Will we see a relaxation of this burden by the time you finish your term here? Overall taxation in Israel is something like 40-41 percent of gross domestic product, higher than it is in the United States, but considerably lower than in northern Europe. I really want to lower the tax burden, but rather than look at this from the point of view of the taxes, one must view this through the prism of government expen- diture. Remember, with a demo- graphic expansion of some 15 percent over the last seven or eight years, you need more teach- ers, more social workers, more national-insurance funds, more doctors, more medicines and what not. So to maintain expenditure at its present levels, when you have a growing population, is just un- realistic. I have no problems with in- creasing taxation to cope with this increase, the question is how big a percentage of GDP this leads us to. If the product grows and immigration shrinks, then this is reasonable. A 30 percent tax burden in the years ahead would not only be a very ambi- tious economic target, but would also entail a very different social approach, one which would put us in line with the United States. And I'm not sure I want U.S.- style homelessness or health care. This by no means negates my basic beliefs, that there must be more market competition, and less government interference which, among other things, now leads us to further reduce our de- fenses against foreign competi- tors. What has happened to the Brodet Committee Report on reforming the Israeli capital markets? It was a good report, which contained helpful proposals for solving the financial markets' ills, particularly concerning the en- couragement of vital long-term savings schemes. To my regret, the discussion has not yet ended. I attempted to bring it up again [in the cabinet] two weeks ago, hnt failpri T h nA7P hPPn nrnmic4r1 r Standards Michigan's #1 for Excellence it will be discussed again soon. How do you feel when con- fronting the populism which was mobilized against you in the wake of this issue and the struggles 'surrounding the budget cuts? I don't want to get into the realms of understatement or overstatement. What I say now doesn't just apply to the Brodet Report, but to a host of issues. Wherever you sit, throughout the world, whether at the Davos summit, the Cairo conference or the International Monetary Fund's annual meeting, there are certain linguistic and economic basics that seem to be the norm and convention practically any- where, except here in Israel. I'm talking now.about both the coalition and opposition — they talk in a different, anachronistic language. Dealer RINKE CADIUAO Additional $500 Lease Renewal Incentive for current Cadillac Smart Lessees. Stk# V818001 Chrome wheels, leather lumbar pkg., heated seats, safety & security pkg. For example? Today there's a proposal to in- crease the minimum wage from 45 percent of the average to 50 percent of the national average salary. There are many factories paying the minimum wage that are losing money, for instance in the textile industry in the Druze, Arab and Jewish sectors. As soon as you up the minimum wage, these factories will close down, or lay off workers. At the moment, now that we've passed the budget, people are ap- proaching me from various min- istries and saying, "We need more money." Look, we have a large budget, a third of which is debts we are repaying and can't touch. That leaves us with money which has all been distributed. There is no more money, and I simply find myself telling people repeatedly, 'Let's all be rational.' We could answer people's re- quests by passing money from one ministry to another. You want more for education, so we'll take from health; you want more for health so we'll take from so- cial welfare, and so on. It's not that I'm an evil man, there's just no more money. The only other way to do this is by raising taxes. I can't write checks, I can only endorse them. What is your solution to the foreign-workers problem? It is critical to the existence of the Palestinians that we restore their employment levels to what they were prior to the Intifada. There is absolutely nothing for us to gain by them having a high unemployment rate. But if you do bring them back into the work force, will it be as road sweepers and construction workers? Just look across the world. What tasks do the foreign work- ers assume? They are employed in sectors where there's a local lack of workers. So Filipino women become domestic staff, Thais become farm workers and Rrnanianc an fn on," c +In n+; nn Month E S $19"1 down WO 77° PLUS $11 1 672 .`fie Additional $500 Lease Renewal Incentive for current Cadillac Smart Levees. Stk# V260107 Leather seats, chrome wheels, leather interior. 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