Israel's Tax Authority weighs a flight tax of 12 to 274 shekels per passenger

The Israel Tax Authority is examining a new levy on flights departing Israel as part of the preparations for the 2027 state budget, two Israeli news organisations reported. News.co.il reported that the charge would range from 12 to 274 shekels for each traveller, depending on how the final scheme is designed, and that it could bring roughly 1.1 billion shekels a year into the state treasury.

A more detailed breakdown came from Yuval Sadeh, a correspondent for the broadcaster N12. In his report on N12's news channel, he said the Tax Authority's proposal would apply the charge to every aircraft that takes off from Israel, calculated by the plane's weight and the length of the flight. By the authority's own estimate, he reported, this would add about 12 shekels per passenger on a domestic flight, about 58 shekels on a flight to Europe and about 274 shekels on a flight to the United States or East Asia, amounting to around 4% to 5% of the ticket price.

What the Tax Authority is

The Israel Tax Authority is the government body responsible for assessing and collecting taxes in Israel. It operates under the Ministry of Finance, which drafts the national budget. Proposals such as this one are typically floated while ministries assemble the package of revenue and spending measures that accompanies a budget. Neither report indicates that the government has adopted the idea; both describe it as something under consideration.

How the proposal would work

The two reports describe the mechanism in different terms, and the difference matters for understanding who would pay.

• News.co.il framed it as a tax on passengers leaving Israel on flights abroad, and said that if the plan goes ahead, many Israelis would likely see higher costs at the point of buying a ticket.
• N12 described it as a charge levied on each departing aircraft, scaled by weight and distance, with the per-passenger figures presented as the Tax Authority's estimate of how that cost would translate into fares.

The two descriptions may lead to the same outcome for travellers if airlines pass the charge on through ticket prices, but the reports do not confirm how the levy would be collected or whether airlines would be required to itemise it. The N12 report also includes a figure for domestic flights, which suggests the scheme as described there is not limited to international departures, while News.co.il refers only to travel abroad.

What the numbers mean for travellers

Both reports give the same bottom and top of the range: 12 shekels at the low end and 274 shekels at the high end. The shekel is Israel's currency. Under the N12 breakdown, the largest charge would fall on long-haul routes to the United States and East Asia, with flights to Europe in the middle of the range and domestic flights at the bottom.

For readers abroad, including diaspora families who visit regularly and people weighing a move to Israel, the relevant question is whether the charge would apply only to flights leaving Israel or to round trips as a whole. Both reports refer to departures from Israel; neither mentions inbound flights.

Where this fits in the budget process

Israel's budget is prepared by the government and must then be approved by the Knesset, the country's parliament. Revenue proposals examined at the drafting stage can be changed, scaled back or dropped before a budget reaches a final vote. News.co.il attributed the estimate of about 1.1 billion shekels a year in revenue to assessments of the plan, without saying who produced that figure.

What the reports do not say

Neither report quotes the Tax Authority or the Ministry of Finance directly, and no official statement appears in the material available. There is no reported response from airlines, travel agents or consumer groups. The reports do not say when a decision is expected, when a tax might take effect, or whether it would cover foreign carriers as well as Israeli ones. The source of the 1.1 billion shekel annual revenue estimate is not identified, and the apparent difference between a passenger tax and an aircraft tax has not been resolved in the reporting.