Israel Gas Prices Set to Rise in November Despite Tax Reduction

Israel's Finance Ministry published a draft order on Friday proposing a reduction of 0.50 shekels per liter in the excise tax on gasoline for 26 days, from November 5 through November 30.

Once Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich signs the order, the price of self-service gasoline is expected to reach 7.85 shekels per liter, up from the current price of 7.77 shekels.

Finance Ministry officials explained that the measure is intended to soften the expected price increase when the current tax discount of one shekel per liter expires on November 4. Under the proposed order, that discount would be reduced to half a shekel per liter for the remainder of November.

According to the explanatory notes accompanying the draft order, the new tax reduction is expected to cost the state approximately 136 million shekels in lost revenue.

This comes on top of an estimated revenue loss of 175 million shekels from the previous tax reduction and 282 million shekels from an earlier measure.

Altogether, the three reductions are expected to cost the state approximately 593 million shekels in tax revenue.