The Tel Aviv municipality said, “Tel Aviv is obliged to finance all its expenses from private revenue sources, unlike towns that receive grants, such as Jerusalem.”
Data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics last week show that Tel Aviv municipal tax collection is among the highest in the country, constituting 60% of the city’s overall final revenue.
In response, the Tel Aviv municipality said, “Tel Aviv is obliged to finance all its expenses from private revenue sources, unlike towns that receive grants, such as Jerusalem. Any comparison is therefore misplaced.”
Tel Aviv municipality director-general Ariel Kappon said, “Tel Aviv has been making intensive efforts in recent years to reduce its ongoing deficit and we will end 2001 with a balanced budget. Most municipal taxes are paid by businesses, about 80%, and only 20% are paid by residents.
“Recently published data show that Tel Aviv ranks 56 in Israel for residential municipal taxes. It is important to mention that the city provides services not only to its 350,000 residents, but to one million daily commuters. It is wrong to divide the total collected tax by the number of residents. It should be divided by the number of people who receive services. The result from calculating this way is the realistic rate.”
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 29 January, 2001