Residents of Tzufim surprised by unexpected payment demand

Residents of the settlement of Tzufim in Samaria were surprised by a payment demand they received recently. About 30 years after the settlement was established, they were required to pay about 5% of the land value according to its current worth in order to register the property in the land registry (Tabu). Tzufim is a settlement located near the security fence and in close proximity to the center of the country, and land prices there have climbed over the years. Accordingly, the payment that residents are required to pay is particularly high, certainly in comparison to taxation within the state's borders. According to estimates, these are amounts of 50 to 90 thousand shekels per housing unit. One family in the settlement recently received a payment demand of about 88 thousand shekels for a 270-square-meter plot.

Property registration in Judea and Samaria is managed by the Civil Administration. Tzufim is among a series of settlements where registration is managed in accordance with Jordanian law. Due to restrictions on the purchase of land in Judea and Samaria by private entities, purchases are carried out by companies registered in the region, which are also the ones that usually lead the development of the settlement and are responsible for registering the properties there as a housing company. In the case of Tzufim, the company that purchased the lands and led the development of the settlement was Leader, owned by Lev Leviev, which became entangled with land and fraud cases.

"We don't know why this happened specifically now. It was not dependent on the residents, but on bureaucratic matters, and we are also dependent on regional and local politics. We think there is a need to re-examine this policy," said Adv. Paul Golonevsky, a local resident who deals, among other things, with accompanying and representing real estate transactions in Judea and Samaria.

"Land prices have soared here, and today a 250-square-meter plot costs about 1.8 million shekels. The demand that we pay according to the current land price is unreasonable. There are pensioners and young couples here who said they will not pay."

Taxation in Judea and Samaria is a kind of hybrid; in certain items, such as property registration fees, the fee is significantly higher in Judea and Samaria compared to registering ownership in Israeli territory, which amounts to a few hundred shekels. The purchase tax and capital gains tax for a private buyer are completely identical in both cases, but in the case of betterment tax (mas hashabacha), for example, outside the Green Line, no betterment levy is paid at all because the Israeli Planning and Building Law does not apply here. In contrast, in state territories, when a local committee approves a plan that improves the property, its owner is required to pay about 50% of the betterment.