The buck stops with Bibi

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted his pay slip on Facebook today, in what his office is billing as a step forward for government transparency. The picture reveals that Netanyahu makes approximately $120,000 a year, significantly less than President Barack Obama’s $400,000 salary. To me, the greatest surprise of this news was Israel’s high income ...

By , Middle East editor at Foreign Policy from 2013-2018.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted his pay slip on Facebook today, in what his office is billing as a step forward for government transparency. The picture reveals that Netanyahu makes approximately $120,000 a year, significantly less than President Barack Obama's $400,000 salary.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted his pay slip on Facebook today, in what his office is billing as a step forward for government transparency. The picture reveals that Netanyahu makes approximately $120,000 a year, significantly less than President Barack Obama’s $400,000 salary.

To me, the greatest surprise of this news was Israel’s high income tax rates. Netanyahu’s gross income was 43,952 shekels, but after tax deductions, his net income came out to 15,027 shekels. That’s a tax rate of almost 66 percent! And I thought the Israeli socialist ideal was dead.

David Kenner was Middle East editor at Foreign Policy from 2013-2018.

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