The backyard of Black capital In Israel: dozens Rabbis And kabbalists in Israel are rolling in billions of shekels that are not reported - this is what a report shows State ComptrollerYosef Shapira, which was published yesterday (Wednesday).
"Most of the vast fortune accumulated by several dozen Kabbalists has not been taxed," the auditor's report states.Tax Authority It has not yet established a clear policy and has not issued guidelines for the methods of taxation of the Kabbalist sector, nor has it initiated the clarification of the legal situation in the matter. The audit revealed that the issue of taxation of Kabbalists has not yet been regulated, even though the need for this arose about 15 years ago. In addition, not enough has been done to include the Badazim in the tax net, and although many of them are incorporated as companies, they are partially taxed or not taxed at all. The extensive activity of the Kabbalists and Badazim further emphasizes the need to correct the deficiencies noted in this report, as part of the Authority's role to maintain an equitable and just tax system, in which every taxpayer pays true tax and to prevent a large financial loss to the state treasury."
yesterday We reported Because the auditor's report wrote about activity carried out in recent years by the Tax Authority against the courts of the kabbalists - and huge sums were found. For example, an agreement was signed with a kabbalist known as H., according to which he would pay a sum of 20 million shekels for all his receipts up to 2002. This was at a time when his bank accounts allegedly contained some 650 million shekels, the source of which is unknown. This amount does not include additional, non-financial assets owned by the rabbi.
The Comptroller's report also noted that a summary of activity on the subject from 2009-2013 shows that out of 29 rabbis who were "treated," five did not have tax cases opened, and two were required to submit tax returns and capital declarations - but they did not submit them and no assessments were made for them in the absence of a report.
In other words, the Tax Authority is showing its current helplessness. Tax evasion The greatness of the Kabbalah rabbis.
"There are dozens of kabbalists operating in Israel who do not report their activities," the report states. "Even if it is not possible to know precisely the scope of their activities, it appears that the funds paid to them amount to hundreds of millions of shekels."
To this sentence, the auditor added a footnote (note number 19 on page 301 of the report, in small print), which stated: "The total financial balances in the bank accounts of one of the kabbalists were more than a billion shekels."
A small footnote with an amazing figure, and the Israeli taxpayer is left wondering how the rabbi arrived at a huge sum of more than a billion shekels, "exempt" from tax, of course.
"Non-taxation of these funds significantly harms the state treasury and the public interest, and there is even concern in this matter about violations of the provisions of the Money Laundering Prohibition Law," the Comptroller writes in the report.
The Comptroller does not ignore the fact that the industry is difficult to supervise, and writes that "given the uniqueness of the Kabbalah industry, the Authority's ability to prove in the existing legal reality that 'business activity' exists in tax cases related to them is very limited... The Authority and the Attorney General must consider resolving this complex situation, regarding the taxation of receipts that a person receives from someone who is not a member of his family, and even initiate legislative changes as necessary, to regulate the taxation of the Kabbalah industry on the legal and operational level."
The Tax Authority said in response: "Regarding the taxation of kabbalists, as the Authority responded to the Comptroller's Office, the actions taken in this area resulted in the complex issue of taxation of funds received from kabbalists as gifts or as income for a service being placed on the court's table. In our opinion, it is the court that should determine the legal interpretation of the matter."
"Regarding the concern raised by the auditor, according to the information available in the Authority for the Prohibition of Money Laundering, which indicates money laundering and tax evasion in the Badazim, as I recall, according to the current legal situation, the Tax Authority is prevented from receiving ongoing information from the Authority for the Prohibition of Money Laundering. Recognizing the importance of receiving this information for the purpose of dealing with tax evasion and black money, the Authority is promoting a bill that will allow the transfer of such information. Unfortunately, the bill has been delayed in the Knesset for a long time."
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