Operation Beneath the Floor Tiles

If you have cash stored in your freezer, or stuffed in your mattress, or, as Israelis say, under your floor tiles, you very well might have gotten that cash by legal means but just don't want it kept int he bank. The assumption by the authorities though is that a high percentage of cash held by people int heir homes, int he cookie jar or under the floor tiles, so to speak, was obtained by more nefarious means. Not necessarily by dealing drugs or whatnot, though possibly also that, but even working without reporting the income and without paying taxes on it.

To that end, the government is going on a project to find that cash and "turn it legal", so to speak - ie collect taxes on it.

Cash is already not king, nor is cash even a prince. Now it is not even a simple citizen but a criminal!

According to Ynet the government is working on a plan to create an amnesty program, of sorts, by which people could "turn in" all their unreported cash. They assume a large amount of cash is held in houses or in bank safes, and much of it comes from money laundering, unreported income to avoid taxes, and possibly criminal activities such as drug dealing and prostitution.

Operation Beneath The Floor Tiles assumes about 10 billion shekels in cash is floating around out there. it also assumes a loss of about 35 billion shekels a year in unpaid taxes from unreported income.

This amnesty program would give people the opportunity to report the cash with no fear of prosecution for criminal activities or for tax evasion. It will also grant the reporter a lower rate on the taxes to be paid for that cash than had he reported it properly - with the expected rate to be set between 10 and 15 percent. And the reporter would not be fined or charged interested,  assuming he pays his taxes immediately.

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