Sharon: Tax Authority has neglected the Customs Directorate

Sharon wrote Prime Minister Ulmert that in recent years the Customs Directorate has not been provided with enough manpower needed to fulfill its growing tasks thus creating backlogs at the ports
 
Mr. Shlomo Sharon, chairman of the Israeli Federation of International Freight Forwarders and Customs Clearing agents, sent a letter last week to Mr. Ehud Ulmert, Prime Minister and acting Finance Minister, demanding the separation of the Customs Directorate from the Tax Authority.
 
The letter, a copy of which was sent to Mr. Yarom Ariav, director general of the finance ministry, and to Mr. Yehuda Nasradishi, the acting director general of the Tax Authority, claims that since the establishment of the Tax Authority the authority has elected to focus their interest mainly on matters concerning income tax and VAT rather than on customs affairs.
 
The separation of the Authority into two entities is a necessity if the government wishes the Customs Directorate to fulfill its tasks, namely the handling of the growing volume of trade, security, exports, money laundering, intellectual property etc wrote Sharon in the letter.
 
Sharon also noted that in recent years the Customs Directorate has not been provided with enough manpower needed to fulfill its growing tasks thus creating backlogs at the ports and creating unnecessary burden on the Israeli trading community.
 
The government, said Sharon, should ensure the total independence of the Customs Directorate and provide it with enough human and financial & technological resources to be able to co-op with Israel's growing trade.
 
In mid May the government set up a committee to study the organizational structure of the Tax Authority. The committee should hand its recommendations to the ministry within 90 days.