Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich has decided on Shay Aharonovitz as the next director of the Israel Tax Authority.
Aharonovitz is currently a deputy director of the Tax Authority, responsible for land taxation. He was selected ahead of two other final candidates recommended by the search committee headed by Ministry of Finance director-general Shlomi Heisler: Roland Am-Shalem, senior deputy director responsible for professional matters at the Tax Authority; and Miri Savyon, a deputy director of the Authority responsible for the economic department.
Smotrich personally informed the three final candidates of his decision last week.
Current Tax Authority director Eran Yaacov will step down on September 17. His term was due to end in March, but it was extended twice because of delays in appointing his replacement. Fourteen candidates submitted their candidacies for the position, the most prominent being the three who reached the final shortlist, and a candidate from the private sector, Yaron Gindi, president of the Institute of Tax Consultants in Israel.
Aharonovitz, 47, began his career at the Israel Tax Authority twenty years ago as an inspector of land taxes. He worked for six years in the legal department, then as a department head at the Authority’s headquarters, and also headed two land taxation offices, in Rehovot and Netanya. Since 2018, he has been a deputy director of the Authority.
Aharonovitz was involved in changes in purchase tax law, legislation on taxation in connection with National Outline Plan 38 (urban renewal), and in formulating policy on land taxation in general. He is wont to repeat the view that "taxation is not the solution to what happens in the real estate market."
During his time, land taxation has switched to online reporting and automation of some tax assessments. A book he wrote on land taxation together with Lod District Court judge Avi Gorman has been cited in Supreme Court rulings. Aharonovitz is a qualified lawyer, with first and second degrees in law from Bar Ilan University.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 3, 2023.
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