REPORTERNET.COM

Israeli consumers will be permitted to import goods and services via the Internet worth up to NIS 1,200 tax-free. The head of one of Israel’s largest electric appliance retailers cautiously welcomed the government's approval of a tax exemption for personal imports on Sunday, but said it wouldn’t cause local chains to reduce their own prices.

Under the government order, which will come into effect once Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz signs it, Israeli consumers will be permitted to import goods and services via the Internet worth up to NIS 1,200 tax-free. The order does not apply to alcohol and tobacco products. Rafi Friedman, CEO of electronics chain Brimag Digital Age, said his salespeople would continue to do their best to match offers that customers find on the Internet, but he rejected an all-inclusive reduction in store prices.

“Every customer who comes to us is interested in purchasing as cheaply as possible. One brings evidence from a [rival] store they visited five seconds earlier, the second shows us cheaper products from the Internet, the third bases his decision on information from a friend, and the fourth just makes things up,” Friedman told The Jerusalem Post.

He added: “The competition from the Internet is already fierce. I think many products can be found cheaper in Israel than on the Internet, but if somebody finds something cheaper abroad – then good for them.”

Friedman, who is chairman of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce’s electrical imports division, said the tax exemption would benefit consumers, “which is not a bad thing.”

But he said he believed the government went too far in introducing an across-the-board exemption, and suggested it should appoint a body such as the Standards Institution of Israel to approve which products can be imported tax-free.

If a product is found to meet local standards and a consumer can find it for cheaper overseas, “that is, in my eyes, legitimate,” Friedman said.

The problem with allowing all products into the country, he said, “is that somebody can purchase something from Zimbabwe which he thinks is the same product [as that available in Israel], but in the end he might receive something totally different.”

(source: www.jpost.com)