In the political storm that erupted in recent days following the emerging agreement to reduce income tax benefits to the country’s peripheral communities, the absence of Likud ministers and Knesset members is conspicuous. This is especially true for those Likud ministers and Knesset members who proudly consider themselves — the way they see it — as champions of a ''social'' agenda. Thus, one would have expected Ministers Miri Regev and Haim Katz, who never miss an opportunity to portray themselves as social welfare fighters in the government, to raise their voices against the intended changes. As of now, the government intends to reduce tax breaks to cities such as Nahariya, Acre and Maalot Tarshiha — cities in which the Likud Party had won a majority of votes in the March 17 elections, while adding the Jewish settlement of Hebron to the tax benefit list.
The Likud’s top brass shares especially close relations with the settlers, led by Yossi Dagan, the head of the Samaria Regional Council; Dagan is viewed as one of the heavyweights in the Likud Central Committee. Thus, the Likud higher-ups prefer to count themselves out of the tax benefit game so as not to suffer political fallout.
