An Accountant’s Review Of Netanyahu’s Pay Slip

bibi pay

In a strange new phenomenon, politicians are publishing their pay slips on social media. Probably in attempt to prove to their constituents just how poor they are. Benjamin Netanyahu has just posted his on Twitter.

Now despite the limited picture resolution available on a tweet I can still make out most of the important bits to really explain what we’re seeing here.

What we are looking at is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s February 2016 pay slip from the State Of Israel.

What’s Redacted?

For those wondering what’s redacted it is the following information:

  • Netanyahu’s National ID number.
  • His address
  • The name of his pension and education fund
  • His national insurance number (which is the same as his ID number)
  • The large redacted part on the right side is anyone’s guess

What is he trying to get us to see?

My assumption is that he is showing us how his take-home income is no higher than your average manager or salesman. But I think looking deeper we see a whole lot more. This was posted in response to public demand.

Let’s Review

Gross Income

Bibi’s gross monthly income is 44,077 ILS (11,363 USD) plus an inflation adjustment bringing his total gross salary to 47,485.29 ILS (12,242 USD).

We are looking at an annual salary of about $150,000 USD which is pretty modest given the position.

Deductions

From 47,485.29 ILS, Bibi only ends up with 17,645.73 ILS (4,549 USD) which is 36% of his gross. How could this be? Let’s take a closer look at his deductions.

First of all, Bibi pays the maximum tax rate for a resident of Israel. He has the minimum number of “credit points” and pays at the highest tax bracket at 48%.

Here’s where it get’s interesting.

  1. According to the slip Bibi pays 2.5% of his gross salary to an education fund and 7.5% is paid for by the employer. However, the maximum salary allowable without tax is 15,712 ILS per month. Bibi receives employer paid education fund contributions for his entire salary.

This effectively adds 3,561 ILS (918 USD) to his monthly gross salary

2. Just like in his education fund, tax-free employer paid pension and severance contributions are capped. He receives 13.33% on his whole salary.

This effectively adds 6,329 ILS (1631 USD) to his monthly gross salary

3. The taxable benefit for a company vehicle is an astonishing 12,440 ILS (3207 USD). In Israel the taxable benefit is generally 2.48% of the car’s value. This puts his company car at 501,612 ILS (129,321 USD). According to the PM’s office, this is due to the fact that he must drive an armored vehicle which costs significantly more. But value is value and…

This effectively adds 12,440 ILS (3207 USD) to his monthly gross salary

4. There’s also the stuff you don’t see on the pay slip. Later this year Bibi will receive 4,250 ILS for convalescence pay. There may be one-time benefits that don’t get revealed in February. I am also not going to include government paid ice cream and flower arrangement expenses. But based on this information alone we can conclude that Bibi’s gross effective income is…

70,169 ILS (18,090 USD) or $217,000 USD per year. 

Quite a bit higher that what he stated.

Thank you everyone for nerding out with me on accounting and payroll management.

4 thoughts on “An Accountant’s Review Of Netanyahu’s Pay Slip”

  1. Much more than what I make but still a reasonable salary. The Ontario government (for non-Canadians, Ontario is a large central Canadian province) has a what they call a “sunshine” list of public servants who earn $100,000 or more Canadian. 2014 there were 111,440 people on that list. The population of the province is 13.8 million people, more than in Israel still in the same ballpark. T

    Netanyahu’s income of $217K US would be $293K Canadian at the current rate of exchange. Rounding that up to $300K, there are 934 public servants who earn more than Netanyahu. The Premier of the province, Kathleen Wynn only earns $209K. I should add that Ontario has no standing army.

    The list does not include municipal public servants.

    For someone who needs to be on the job 24/7 I think it’s reasonable. And unlike Obama, I don’t think Netanyahu takes as much time off to play golf.

    1. True enough. An ice cream shop and not a golf course appear to be Bibi’s venue of choice to pursue his preferred recreational past time.

  2. Don’t forget that his expenses would probably be less than average person (eg not having to pay rent or mortgage). On the other hand, Sarah probably doesn’t get paid, but she can’t really hold down a separate paid job. I have read somewhere that the highest paid public servants in Israel are judges, so that they would be less likely to take bribes. Not sure if that’s true.

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