Ezrachi

The primary source of revenue for the state and municipalities is taxes and other mandatory payments from citizens. They, in turn, return the bulk of the mandatory payments included in the prices of consumer goods and services back to businesses.
Over the past decade, the total amount of citizens' mandatory payments grew significantly faster than their incomes. As a result, between 2015 and 2024, while gross domestic product grew by 78%, the revenues of the country's budgetary system (state and municipal budgets) more than doubled.
During this period, the share of government consumption (budgetary and state institution expenditures) increased from 21.9% to 25.2%, while private consumption (household expenditures) decreased from 53.2% to 48.9%. In 2015, for every shekel distributed by the authorities, there were 2.4 shekels that citizens spent at their own discretion. Over nine years, this ratio dropped to 1.9:1. For comparison, in 2024 it was 5:1 for the USA, 2.9:1 for the UK and Russia, and 2.4:1 for Germany and China.
Another fact is that the distribution of budget expenditures across the ten main areas changed between 2015 and 2024 such that the shares of six areas in the total sum decreased, while four increased.
The shares of expenditures decreased for education (from 18.1% to 14.4%), healthcare (from 13.3% to 11.6%), social security including Bituach Leumi expenses (from 28.0% to 26.5%), culture, sport, leisure, and religion (from 3.7% to 2.9%), environmental protection (from 1.5% to 1.2%), and internal security (from 4.1% to 3.4%). In the middle of the period, in 2020, at the height of the COVID epidemic, expenditures on healthcare and social security increased somewhat, while other downward trends in the shares of these areas remained consistent.
The shares of expenditures increased for defense (from 15.4% to 20.4%), economic projects (from 6.8% to 7.6%), administration (from 3.7% to 4.1%), and debt servicing (from 5.6% to 7.7%). The priority given to defense spending in 2024 amid a newly started war is understandable, but it should be noted that in 2020 its share was a quarter lower than in 2015 (11.6%), whereas the share of economic projects over those five years more than doubled (to 14.1%).
If these facts were made known to a large number of citizens at the beginning of the period when budget drafts are considered in the Knesset, they could convey their attitude towards them to the deputies and factions, thereby influencing the content of the adopted budgets. Retrospectively, these facts give them the opportunity to more objectively assess the actual positions of parties and compare them with their programs and declarations. The implementation of this proposal will not require additional budgetary expenditures and can be carried out by the Ministry of Finance without much difficulty, but with great benefit both for interested citizens and for the budget developers themselves, Knesset deputies, parties, and public organizations