Cars en route to Israel to get tax discount. Hybrid opposition

• Published date: 07 April 2024
• Author: UDI ETZION/WALLA!
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Four ships carrying cars, currently sailing to Israel from China and South Korea, have been sent on a long route planned around Africa, to avoid the hybrids' attacks in the Red Sea, which target ships sailing to Israel or owned by Israelis

The ships are carrying around 5,500 electric cars and 1,000 plug-in cars, which will incur increased purchase taxes from 20% to 35% in the case of electric cars and from 55% to 83% in the case of plug-in cars starting January 1st. Originally, they were supposed to dock in Israel before December 31 and be subject to the lower tax rate, but due to the delay, they will arrive in the country only after the tax increase, which will effectively increase their cost by NIS 10,000-15,000.

Tonight, the Treasury published an order stating that those shipments will be exempt from the general tax increase as long as importers can prove that the ships sailed to Israel in time to arrive by the end of the month if they had sailed on the original and shorter route through the Red Sea and then to Eilat or Ashdod and Haifa.

"Due to the Swords of Iron war and the threat to the shipping routes in the Red Sea region, there were cases where shipping routes were altered to avoid security risks along the way", explained Treasury legal advisor Asi Mesing, who signed the order. "As a result, a situation was created where ships were required to circumnavigate the continent of Africa (near the Horn of Africa) and reach the ports of Israel through the Mediterranean Sea".

"This route change extended the travel time, and there are cases where ships that were supposed to arrive before the end of 2023 may arrive after that date. In order to allow for such cases, which include the import of Plug-in...