How Much Tax Did Israel Collect in the West Bank in the 1980s?
The Civil Administration recorded about NIS 71.27 million in direct taxes in 1989 and about NIS 55.76 million in 1988, with no decade total published.
About NIS 71.27 million in direct taxes for 1989 in the Judea and Samaria Area is the figure the Civil Administration’s Staff Officer for Tax Affairs recorded in 1991, the unit’s own count of its own collection. The same document records about NIS 55.76 million for 1988, sets estimated collection against collection achieved for 1987, 1988 and 1989, and counts the files held at the area’s tax offices. It carries no total for the decade and no year-by-year series before 1987.
| Figure | What it counts | Period |
|---|---|---|
| About NIS 71.27 million | Direct taxes collected by the unit, its own count of its own collection | 1989 |
| About NIS 55.76 million | Direct taxes collected by the unit, its own count of its own collection | 1988 |
| NIS 33,823 thousand | Collection achieved against NIS 46,892 thousand estimated, 72.1% | 1989 |
| NIS 23,232 thousand | Collection achieved against NIS 47,818 thousand estimated, 48.6% | 1988 |
| NIS 28,019 thousand | Collection achieved against NIS 46,799 thousand estimated, 59.9% | 1987 |
| 23,183 files | Files existing at the area’s tax offices, of which 17,497 recorded tax paid, 75.5% | 1989 |
| 22,394 files | Files existing at the area’s tax offices, of which 16,529 recorded tax paid, 73.8% | 1987 |
Source: Civil Administration, Staff Officer for Tax Affairs, 1991, Tax collection in the Judea and Samaria Area. Figures are in shekels as published and are not converted.
The Civil Administration collected NIS 71.27 million in direct taxes, 1989
The two direct-tax totals are the military government’s own account of its own take, published by its Staff Officer for Tax Affairs and covering the unit’s direct taxes rather than all revenue raised in the area. The governing statute named in the document is the Jordanian Income Tax Law 25 of 1964, under which income tax is payable on earnings from any business, trade, craft, profession or occupation.
- Taxpayers’ files are held at the tax offices of the several districts of the area.
- Both totals carry the document’s own approximation and stay approximate.
- Staff officers sit inside the Civil Administration as the professional representatives of the government ministries; the State Comptroller of Israel recorded 25 such staff officers and 314 Civil Administration employees in its audit of September 2018 to June 2019.
Actual collection reached 48.6% of the estimate in 1988
Alongside the direct-tax totals, the Staff Officer for Tax Affairs published a second series setting the sum it expected to collect against the sum it took in, for the self-employed and companies with files at the area’s tax offices. The trough is 1988 and the recovery is 1989, on the unit’s own figures for its own performance. These amounts are a smaller universe than the direct-tax totals above and are not the same quantity.
Tax was paid in 16,529 of 22,394 files in 1987
The same document counts files, not people: the Civil Administration recorded how many files existed at the area’s tax offices in each year and in how many of them tax was paid. This is the military government’s own record of its own registers, and a file may not be read as a taxpayer or as a resident.
| Year | Files existing | Files in which tax was paid | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 22,394 | 16,529 | 73.8% |
| 1988 | 23,093 | 13,993 | 60.6% |
| 1989 | 23,183 | 17,497 | 75.5% |
Source: Civil Administration, Staff Officer for Tax Affairs, 1991.
The unit collected no income tax from 30% of filers in 1989
For 1989 the Staff Officer for Tax Affairs recorded that income tax was not collected from more than half of the self-employed and companies in the area holding files managed by the tax offices, and that the unit collected no income tax at all from 30% of them. Both statements are the unit’s own account of its own collection against its own file population, and they describe different groups within the same passage.
The same document also records, in the unit’s own words:
- Delay in handling applications by entrepreneurs seeking to establish factories in the area.
- Thousands of factories in the area operating without a licence.
No decade total for the 1980s appears in this record
The Staff Officer for Tax Affairs published figures for 1987, 1988 and 1989 only, stated in shekels as printed, and this record carries no Israeli official total for tax collected in the area across the 1980s and no year-by-year series before 1987. Tax arrangements between the parties from 1994 are set by a separate instrument, the Protocol on Economic Relations agreed between the Government of Israel and the PLO, which covers a later period and a different mechanism.
- Years covered by the 1991 document: 1987, 1988, 1989.
- Years not covered: 1980 to 1986.
- Decade total published: none.
Which figures here may not be added together?
The direct-tax totals for 1988 and 1989 and the estimate-and-collection amounts are two different quantities from the same document, and NIS 23,232 thousand is not NIS 55.76 million; they may not be summed, reconciled against each other or plotted as one series.
The file counts and the money amounts are also different universes, so a payment share and a collection share answer different questions: 75.5% in 1989 is the share of files recording payment, and 72.1% is the share of the estimated sum actually collected.
Every figure marked “about” keeps that approximation, and no amount here is converted into any other currency.
The document is the military government’s own account of its own collection, written in Hebrew, and the English renderings above are working translations.
Questions readers ask
How much tax did the Civil Administration collect in the West Bank in 1989?
The Staff Officer for Tax Affairs recorded about NIS 71.27 million in direct taxes for the Judea and Samaria Area in 1989, on the unit’s own count.
Is there an Israeli official total for the whole decade?
No. The Civil Administration published figures for 1987, 1988 and 1989 in this document, and no decade total appears in it.
Which law was the tax collected under?
The Civil Administration records the Jordanian Income Tax Law 25 of 1964 as the governing statute in the area, applying to earnings from any business, trade, craft, profession or occupation.
How much did the unit expect to collect in 1988?
The Staff Officer for Tax Affairs recorded NIS 47,818 thousand as estimated collection for 1988 and NIS 23,232 thousand as collection achieved, 48.6%.
How many files were held at the area’s tax offices?
The Civil Administration recorded 22,394 files in 1987, 23,093 in 1988 and 23,183 in 1989, held at the tax offices of the several districts.
What share of files recorded payment in 1988?
The Civil Administration recorded tax paid in 13,993 of 23,093 files in 1988, which it puts at 60.6%.
Does a file mean a taxpayer?
The Civil Administration counts files managed by the area’s tax offices. The document publishes no count of individual taxpayers or of residents.
Who is the Staff Officer for Tax Affairs?
The State Comptroller of Israel reported that staff officers serve as the professional representatives of the government ministries inside the Civil Administration, which is subordinate to COGAT.
Are the direct-tax totals and the table amounts the same figures?
No. The Staff Officer for Tax Affairs published the table amounts for the self-employed and companies with files at the tax offices, and the direct-tax totals of about NIS 55.76 million and NIS 71.27 million are a larger quantity.
Did the unit report uncollected income tax?
The Staff Officer for Tax Affairs recorded for 1989 that income tax was not collected from more than half of the self-employed and companies holding files, and that no income tax at all was collected from 30% of them.
What does the document say about factories?
The Civil Administration recorded delay in handling applications by entrepreneurs seeking to establish factories, and recorded thousands of factories in the area operating without a licence.
Sources
- Civil Administration, Staff Officer for Tax Affairs, 1991. Tax collection in the Judea and Samaria Area. 8 pages, Hebrew. Official or primary record.
- Government of the State of Israel and the P.L.O., 1994. Protocol on Economic Relations, and its 1995 Supplement. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2021. Staff Officers in the Civil Administration in the Judea and Samaria Region. Annual Report 70C, English abstract, pp. 55 to 59. Official or primary record.
