Bethel Finance: 2011 tax revenues fall just short of gov't target

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Bethel Finance news:
State tax and bond revenues reached NIS 211 billion in 2011, sources inform ''Globes''. This is a shortfall of only NIS 2.2-2.5 billion from the planned target, which is considered an achievement since the Ministry of Finance's initial estimate was that revenues would miss the target by NIS 3.5 billion. The Ministry of Finance believes that the shortfall was minimized in the last few weeks of the year due to discounts and increased pressure from Tax Authority director general Doron Arbeli in December.

In addition, sources inform ''Globes'' that the 2011 state deficit was 3.27% of GDP, which is extremely close to the target 3% of GDP. The shortfall of NIS 2 billion in tax revenues from projected revenues of more than NIS 210 billion is less than 1%. The Ministry of Finance expressed great satisfaction today over the 2011 fiscal results.

There are two main reasons for the Ministry of Finance's satisfaction. The first is that spending did not exceed the budget framework despite the social protest that swept the country. The second reason is that the development of tax collection was not linear in 2011. In other words, in the first half of the year, there were surplus revenues above the target, and early on in the second half of 2011 the economic downturn began to manifest itself and reduce revenues. The Ministry of Finance and the Tax Authority will publish the tax revenues and deficit report later today or tomorrow.