Adalah Calls Upon Finance Minister to End Discrimination in Granting Tax Breaks

Today, Adalah wrote a letter to the Finance Minister calling upon him to secure tax breaks for the village of Mazra’ah similar to those granted to surrounding Jewish towns. 

Mazra’ah, an Arab village of 3,200 residents in the North, sits near the Jewish towns of Nahariya, Kibbutz Avron and Mushav Shevetsion.  Despite their proximity, the Jewish towns enjoy tax breaks while Mazra’ah does not.  Based on this fact, Adalah maintained that the criteria by which the Finance Minister chooses towns to be awarded tax breaks is both arbitrary and unclear.  Adalah further argued in its letter that denying Mazra’ah tax breaks violates the principle of equality, and discriminates against its residents who will not receive the same economic benefits as their neighbors. 

In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling that economic benefits must be allocated equally, Adalah called upon the Finance Minister to include Mazra’ah in the list of towns in the Northern Boarder region that enjoy tax breaks.  Adalah also called upon the Finance Minister to use clear, obvious and non-discriminatory criteria in choosing localities to enjoy this benefit.