Abir Kara attacks sharply: "Instead of fighting crooks, they are fighting all citizens"

The Tax Authority is promoting a significant reform in the way businesses in Israel report and pay VAT, but the move is drawing criticism from entrepreneur and social activist Abir Kara. In response to the publication of the plan, Kara attacked on the X network the intention to expand reporting and collection mechanisms, claiming that the state is focusing on imposing new restrictions on all business owners instead of focusing on dealing with tax offenders.

According to the background published on the subject, as part of the "VAT Online" program, the VAT component is expected to be transferred to the Tax Authority close to the time the business actually receives payment from the customer. Invoices are supposed to be transmitted digitally from accounting systems and business cash registers, with the goal of making the reporting and collection process automatic and reducing the need for manual reports.

Kara claimed that this is an attempt to solve a regulatory failure through additional regulation. "Helm, it's here," he wrote, adding that, according to him, the Tax Authority itself points out that a previous mechanism intended to deal with fictitious invoices has already been bypassed by criminals.

"Instead of focusing on fraudsters through investigations, arrests, strict punishment, and dealing with identity theft, the state chooses to add requirements and barriers for all business owners," Kara stated, comparing the situation to trying to treat an injury with a tourniquet instead of treating the source of the problem.

However, Kara emphasized that from his personal point of view, there is actually an advantage in the possibility of transferring the VAT only after receiving payment from the customer. What bothers him is that the move is presented as a tool for dealing with crime, while he claims it may impose an additional burden precisely on law-abiding businesses.

Kara further claimed that existing control mechanisms do not deal with the root of the fraud phenomenon, because criminals adapt and look for new ways to bypass the restrictions. According to him, the new requirements are also expected to eventually become a target for those who seek to defraud the state.

At the end of his remarks, Kara warned against expanding bureaucracy and the costs that will be imposed on business owners, and argued that without significant enforcement against the criminals themselves, additional regulation will not solve the problem. "Instead of fighting crooks, they are fighting all citizens," he wrote.