There has been a dispute going on between Bet Shemesh and it's neighboring regional council of Mateh Yehuda. The dispute is one that is happening in other parts of the country as well, but I am more familiar with the one happening in my area, so I will reference that, but it applies elsewhere as well.

Bet Shemesh demanded/requested the annexation of some land from the rgional council for the purpose of building more industrial zones. Businesses that would open in these areas would pay the local land tax, which is very important for a city, and this new land would be very important for a city under expansion.

Eventually the Ministry of Interior approved the request, granting Bet Shemesh 3000 dunam of INdustrial Zone that had been developed by Mateh Yehuda.

Mateh Yehuda was not going to take that sitting down. They put money into developing these areas and they were counting on that arnona as well. They appealed the decision and it has been a fight ever since.

A few months back Moshe Abutbol and a group of other mayors in similar situations created a forum called mayors for rightful distribution. They have held conferences and have petitioned the government claiming that they deserve to annex lands from surrounding areas because most of the population lives in the cities, but most of the land is controlled by the regional councils, and that is not right.

Back to today. Globes has revealed that a few days ago Moshe Abutbol has sent his next claim on behalf of the forum to Minister of Interior Eli Yishai. The forum now wants a new law passed that any business operating within 15 kilometers of a city will have to pay the city's rate of arnona.

The city rate of arnona is much higher than the regional council rate. That is why many businesses in cities with regional councils so close, like Bet Shemesh, choose to open in industrial zones of the regional council rather than the city.

The forum claims that many of the proprietors of these businesses, sometimes even in industrial zones built very close to the city, are city residents, and many customers are as well. The city then loses the arnona, but is really the one supporting the business, providing all the customers, and sometimes the owner and employees as well. Raising the arnona rates to be equal to those of businesses in the neighboring city would level the competitive playing field.

This is like a governmental tent protest. Instead of going out and developing your own business areas, the tactic has become to take from others, to have others subsidize you...