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MK Amar Against Discriminatory Distribution of Property Tax

Published on: July 24, 2012

On Monday 23.7, the Internal Affairs and Environment Committee held a commission to examine property tax division of oil refineries in Haifa. Surprisingly, the property tax money paid by the oil refineries is divided in a discriminatory manner among some of the villages in the area, so said the mayor of Shfaram, who attended the hearing. MK Hamad Amar asked the Interior Ministry representative whether there where clear criteria for which communities received what share of the municipal taxes. Amar was not satisfied with answers given by the Interior Ministry representative and asked whether there was a systematic policy regarding the distribution of property tax among communities in the region. “How is it possible that the two communities side by side are a placed different class for municipal funding for no apparent reason? According to the Interior Ministry representative there are no official criteria to answer the question,” said Amar

MK Amar added that this case was not the first where serious allegations were brought against the Interior Ministry regarding the often controversial distribution of public funds. This was also the case of Bir al Maksur quarries. In that case, the Shfaram municipality deserved a greater share of the municipal funding, and MK Amar took up the cause. MK Amar argues that official district should not be the only consideration in the division of funds.  Often communities are affected by projects nearby that may not be in their official district.

“The situation on the ground proves that a settlement could be much closer geographically to a specific industry, without being in the same district.  We end up with a situation where a community suffers the ill effects of pollution and environmental and health risks, without benefiting from the revenue generated by such industry. It is not fair and must be set right once and for all,” said MK Amar.

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