A routine Knesset Finance Committee meeting on the controversial issue of online tax filing unusually screeched to a halt today. A presentation by Amnon Levanthal, who is implementing Israel Tax Authority's online tax filing by companies, was halted suddenly by Tax Authority legal counsel Michal Deutsch as Leventhal was presenting the disadvantages.
MK Yitzhak Vaknin (Shas) angrily said, "She cut him off, held a mobile phone, and told the official to halt the presentation, and go outside, because [Tax Authority director general Yehuda] Nasradishi wanted him outside."
Vaknin added, "All this took place in front of the MKs. It was loud and everyone heard. I was a witness and I couldn’t believe it. A government official permits himself to stop a discussion, as if he were the chairman. I banged on the table, something I've never done, and asked for this farce to end. An official is chairing a meeting, and tells another official to leave, and prevents us, the MKs, from obtaining credible information so that we can formulate our position. This crosses all boundaries."
Leventhal said that online filing adds another burden to the business sector, which already has to report online to the National Insurance Institute. Vaknin said that both Deutsch and Nasradishi, who came specially to the Finance Committee meeting in the wake of the incident, apologized and presented the Tax Authority's position.
Finance Committee chairman MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) suspended the meeting in the wake of the incident, postponed a vote on the issue, and left the room in a huff. "I won't let anyone prettify reality," he said.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 13, 2010
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