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10 Cheshvan 5760 - October 20, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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News
Petition High Court to Cancel Large Families' Municipal Tax Reductions

by Betzalel Kahn

A petition was filed last week with the Supreme Court by Arnon Yekutieli, member of Jerusalem's City Council and of Am Chofshi. He demanded the cancellation of current criteria for reductions in the annual municipal property tax ("arnona") given to large families. The suit was filed against the Interior Minister, Natan Sharansky.

The petitioner claims that current guidelines discriminate against small and medium-sized families, as opposed to large ones. Yekutieli claims that the situation is especially serious in Jerusalem, where part of the city's population pays a heavier share of thearnona while another group is generally exempt from payment.

Yekutieli claims that in order to calculate incomes for the purpose of reductions in arnona, income from monthly children supplements, unemployment benefits, scholarships and other income must be taken into consideration, as well as salary. In that manner, reductions will be given to those who truly need them and not to those who do not earn income through employment but secure their livelihoods from annuities not included in the arnona calculation.

The petitioners also claim that current procedures are highly illogical, since they grant automatic reductions of over 70% to those who receive minimum income payments from the Religious Affairs Ministry (i.e. yeshiva students).

In response to this provocative petition, deputy Mayor of the city, Rabbi Uri Maklev said, "The petitioner is behaving like all so-called gentle souls who use the law as it suits their needs. The law determines that income increments are allotted in addition to various annuities of the National Insurance Institute. That is the law, and what can we do if it doesn't suit the obsessive envy and ill will of those souls? They say of us: `Lest they multiply,' and we say, `Let us multiply.'"


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