“Disclose Teva’s past assessments in disputes with the state, and explain whether it is proper that a company with a profit of 1.5 billion NIS pays a negligible tax rate, while 90% of companies pay an average tax rate of more than 20%,” Labor Party chairwoman MK Shelly Yacimovich asked Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz during question time in the Knesset today.
Yacimovich’s question came in response to a “Globes” exposé yesterday that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) paid an effective tax rate of just 0.3% on its profits in Israel in 2012. Yacimovich has called to convene the Knesset Finance Committee to discuss why most companies pay the full tax rate while a “coterie of companies pay negligible rates, which systematically harm government revenues.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)