Israelis pay highest taxes of any developed country

Israelis pay highest taxes of any developed country
Productivity is one of the lowest in the OECD
Yossi Greenstein
September 1, 2004
http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=10892

After a three year long recession, the Israeli economy is one of
the least productive of the worldÂ?s advanced first world economies, with a
per capita GDP equaling just over half (55%) registered by the US, and 69%
of the OECD (organization of economically advanced industrial states)
average.

The only OECD members with a lower per capita GDP than Israel are the Czech
Republic, Greece, Portugal and the Republic of Korea.

Israelis may be inefficient producers, but they pay the highest taxes of any
developed country. The per capita tax burden is nearly $1,000 higher than in
any other OECD member, equaling 38.5% of the GDP, compared to the 32.8% OECD
average.

The Treasury blames the Central Bank for the low productivity, saying that
its unrealistic monetary policies between 2001-2003 contributed to
increasing both the length and severity of the recession, and hindering the
recovery.