Over Natural Gas Bounty

"K2T Wisata"

A government panel proposes a new tax regime for energy profits, cheering social activists and angering explorers.

Israel’s social activists and its energy barons drew their swords on Thursday as the fight over who will get what share of Israel’s natural gas windfall got underway. The lines of battle were laid out by a government commission, chaired by Hebrew University Professor Eytan Sheshinski, which the day before offered its preliminary recommendations about how Israel should tax profits from natural gas and oil. It will now hold hearings with the public before it makes its final recommendations prior to the parliamentary debate.

“There’s a big, big political battle ahead,” Brenda Shaffer, an energy expert at the University of Haifa’s School of Political Sciences, told The Media Line. “The prime minister hasn’t said anything yet and the infrastructure minister is against it. So it’s not clear at all yet what is going to emerge as the final legislation.” … [visit site to read more]