The rage of the self-employed organizations has worked:
The Ministry of Finance is expected to present next week an improved compensation outline for businesses affected by the omicron wave.
The most important section that will be amended - is the minimum injury threshold for receiving compensation - Israel Today has learned.
In the previous outline, the Treasury promised to compensate businesses that experienced a turnover decline of at least 35% in January-February 2022 compared to 2019, however the improved outline allows to compensate even those who experienced a decline of at least 25%.
The outline was presented to the public as early as the end of February, but its legislative process has not yet been completed, and as a result business owners have not yet been compensated for the decline they experienced during the period of mass isolation at the beginning of the year.
The delay was caused, among other things, by the Knesset's recess and by the pressure exerted by independent organizations to improve the outline.
The self-employed lamented that the criteria for providing assistance are drastic and stricter than all previous assistance programs, and as a result many businesses are left without assistance.
Details of the new layout
Extending the eligibility threshold for the grant from 35% damage to turnover to 25%.
The Treasury will significantly increase the grants promised to small businesses.
In addition, an option is being considered to change the base cycle for 2020 instead of 2019, or to make an average between the years 2019-2020 for the purpose of calculating the base cycle.
The distribution of the dividend for years until 2019 will not prevent businesses from receiving a grant.
The calculation of the base cycle of new businesses will be corrected as follows:
• For businesses opened in 2019, the months of January-February 2020 will be added to calculate the base cycle.
• For businesses opened in 2020, January-February 2021 will not be considered for the base cycle, as there was a closure - which increases the gaps between cycles and improves eligibility.
• The original proposal states that if the business reported a 0 cycle over three months, October-December 2021, it would not be eligible for the grant.
Under the new outline, the disqualification will be for only about four months.
If the business reported a turnover in March, April 2022 it will also be eligible.
"It will be easy to get the grant, and with a minimum of bureaucracy"
The business compensation bill for the Omicron wave is currently being discussed in the Finance Committee headed by MK Alex Kushnir, and it remains to be seen whether the Knesset will be able to approve it, and businesses affected in January will receive grants at least in June.
MK Alex Kushnir. "To give compensation to those who were really hurt," Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Aviram Alon, director general of the Association of Halls and Event Gardens, told Israel Today a month ago that "many of the event halls have taken out loans or dismantled personal savings or even taken loans from the gray market, because people really have nowhere to pay their salaries."
Much has been said about the fact that despite the difficult political situation, economic laws are at the heart of the consensus and have the support of both sides - both the coalition and the opposition.
However, experience shows that this is not always true.
Recall that members of the opposition voted against the addition to the labor grant for low-wage earners and the granting of credit points to working families with children aged 5-12.
Although these are low additions, they will still make it even easier for some households during the current wave of rising prices.
The chairman of the Finance Committee, MK Alex Kushnir, told Israel Today that "the principle of this move is to give compensation to those who were actually harmed, and to give compensation that is appropriate to the extent of the harm - and not as it was the last time the money was distributed indiscriminately. "That also meant that today the self-employed are still required to return the grants from that period. In the committee, I make sure that medium-sized and especially small business owners will simply receive the grant, and with a minimum of bureaucracy. They have waited long enough."
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