MK (Yahadut HaTorah) Yaakov Asher is working with the Knesset Interior Ministry and the Ministry of the Interior to ease the bureaucratic process surrounding an application for a reduction in arnona property tax by senior citizens.

Asher is concerned due to new regulations, which will eliminate the automatic 25% reduction given to senior citizens today; many entitled senior citizens will never receive the discount. He explains the forms and bureaucracy surrounding the process are simply too much for some.

The committee has turned to the Ministry of the Interior and local municipalities for suggestion as to how the new system should appear. Asher believes senior citizens should have to make a simple declaration as to their income once every five years and this would be sufficient. He adds that the additional income to local authorities from the elimination of a discount for senior citizens is negligible at best.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)