Minister of Transport Meir Sheetrit is proposing the creation of a financial database that will include all income from labor, property, rent, and financial assets for all citizens and households. The proposed database would be part of the E-Government Initiative for computerizing government ministries. At a session of the Jerusalem Economic Forum, Sheetrit said the database was the only to combat tax evasion, fraud, and the illegitimate obtaining of payments from the National Insurance Institute.
”The state is entitled to explanations, including from those receiving allowances, why Mama or Grandma owns a Mercedes-Benz worth over NIS 250,000, when she doesn’t have a driver’s license,” Sheetrit said. He said that after such a database is established, a general reporting requirement could be enforced for all residents, thereby saving billions of shekels in unnecessary payments, particularly in allowances.
Sheetrit asserted that government ministries and support units had for years created a digital Tower of Babel, with every unit and government ministry, and even department, having a separate computer system, which led to unnecessary redundancies and high costs. In his opinion, all the separate computer systems can be disassembled, and one central government computer system created, at a one tenth of the previous cost. “Redundancies should be eliminated. It is possible and essential to save hundreds of millions of shekels a year by setting up an interactive computer system,” Sheetrit said.
Autor: Zeev Klein
Quelle: Globes Online, 14.07.2004
