Urban renewal projects, including "construction clearance", have long since become the order of the day.
These initiatives are not only the property of the residents of Gush Dan, but also of the periphery, including the residents of Yosh. The significant increase in Israel's population, combined with the housing crisis, have made them vital and necessary in the contemporary urban space.
Apartments from the 1970s, 1960s, and of course older, cannot provide adequate housing conditions for those who live in them.
Old buildings have no protected spaces at all, which makes them unsafe against earthquakes and other disasters.
It goes without saying that they do not offer basic amenities, such as an elevator, parking or a balcony.
A large-scale "construction evacuation".
The city of Ariel, photo: Jonathan Shaul
In order to encourage the tenants to roll up their sleeves and carry out a project of "clearing and building" (demolishing the old and building the new), the state is trying to incentivize the tenants with exorbitant tax benefits that may even reach hundreds of thousands of shekels per apartment.
Some examples of this are exemption from appreciation tax for apartment owners and payment of VAT at a rate of 0% for developers.
Hundreds of thousands of shekels
But it turns out that not all residents of the country receive these incentives equally.
Tax benefits for urban renewal projects are currently only given to residents of the "Green Line".
A resident of Tel Aviv who wants to carry out an urban renewal project will be entitled to tax benefits of up to hundreds of thousands of shekels for each new apartment, including residents of Ramat Gan or Rosh Ha'Ein.
However, their neighbors in Ariel, Ma'oranit, Sha'are Tikva, Elkana and other Yosh settlements are currently discriminated against and are not entitled according to the law to receive the generous tax benefits that their neighbors to the west are entitled to receive.
In Judea and Samaria, several urban renewal programs are already being promoted, some by the government authority for urban renewal and some by private entrepreneurs.
For example, the large-scale "Evacuation of Construction" program in Ariel.
General's order
In an article published a few months ago in the magazine "Massim", Shay Aharonovich, senior vice president at the Tax Authority, detailed the reason for the impossibility of applying the tax benefits. The commander in chief, who is the sovereign in the territories of the Yosh, can determine by decree that the provisions of the Urban Renewal Authority Law And the relevant provisions in TMA 38 will also apply in Judea and Samaria.
If such a general order is indeed issued, then there will be no obstacle to providing the tax breaks in urban renewal projects, the ceremony of changing the commander of the Central Command,
If such a general decree is indeed issued, then there will be no obstacle to providing the tax breaks in urban renewal projects, similar to the provision of benefits in the rest of the country.
All that remains to be asked is, will the right-wing government "fully" correct the taxation discrimination that the residents of Yosh suffer from?
The Governmental Authority for Urban Renewal stated: "The announcement of evacuation and construction complexes is by virtue of the Law of the Governmental Authority for Urban Renewal, which does not apply in the territories of Judea and Samaria. In light of this, the Governmental Authority for Urban Renewal has proposed an outline that will make it possible to declare evacuation and construction complexes in the region as well."
The government authority added: "This outline is currently being examined by the Civil Administration. The announcement of the complexes will enable the granting of tax benefits as well as procedures against unwilling tenants also in the territories of Judea and Samaria."
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