"Some contractors and developers are realizing that their profit will fall, and they will do anything to stop the plan. This is what is going to happen. The developers who earned NIS 400,000 will earn NIS 100,000; that is fine. The processes that took place for years have been stopped with six months of work. I have halted the speculation in land," Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon said last Thursday in a special meeting with regional council heads in Israel. He was referring to the buyer fixed price plan.
Kahlon also addressed the complaints voiced in recent months about rural areas, development towns, and outlying areas, saying "There is tension between the rural areas and the outlying towns and communities, but the state is able to bear the burden, and give to both the development towns and the kibbutzim. When I work for attracting people to the outlying towns, it is at no one's expense. There is money in the country. At most, it will have a little less revenue."
Kahlon also appealed to the regional council heads, saying, "You, the leaders, must realize that there is an opportunity here that has to be taken. Up until now, I have merely corrected what has not been done here for decades. I am not afraid to make momentous decisions. This situation, in which all the authority is in one place, will not recur."
Ramat Hanegev Regional Council head and former Chairman of the Center of Regional Councils in Israel Shmuel Rifman said at the gathering, "The rural areas and agriculture in Israel have a unique opportunity with Kahlon. After a period of disagreements and unwillingness to listen, there is a minister who knows how to listen and make decisions. Eliminating the employers' tax gives room to breathe to farmers desperate for working hands. Approval of a third lot to pass on to children was stuck in discussions for six years, until Kahlon made a decision. I am confident that together, we will be able to bring progress to the rural areas, and to Israel as a whole."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 27, 2015
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