Most interesting quotes from the article is this:
"Intel Israel has been operating in Kiryat Gat since the mid-1990s, helped by a $600 million Israeli government grant in exchange for choosing to open shop there. [...] In mid-2005, the government agreed to give Intel $525 million more to build a second plant in Kiryat Gat, known as Fab 28."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/673405.html
Kiryat Gat charges Intel with dodging NIS 60 million city tax
By Omer Sharvit
The Kiryat Gat municipality has accused the Intel Israel of dodging some NIS 60 million in city taxes.
"Since Intel finished building its Fab 18 plant in Kiryat Gat, it has blocked city officials from measuring the plant's area," the municipality said.
"After a complaint and with the intervention of the Israeli government, the municipality was allowed to carry out the measurements," the city said, and claims that based on its findings, Intel owes it NIS 60 million in /arnona/ city taxes covering 1998 to 2005.
Intel Israel has been operating in Kiryat Gat since the mid-1990s, helped by a $600 million Israeli government grant in exchange for choosing to open shop there. Its Kiryat Gat plant has been operating at full capacity since 1999.
In mid-2005, the government agreed to give Intel $525 million more to build a second plant in Kiryat Gat, known as Fab 28.
Intel Israel pays the city of Kiryat Gat arnona tax of NIS 12 million a year. The current dispute is the height of the arnona it pays, which the city deems to fall short of its true due.
As long as Intel refused to let it measure, the city argues, it had to rely on the company's own estimates of its area for the purpose of setting tax. Once measured, it found the company owed more.
Refusing to allow a city to measure the premises for the purposes of setting city tax rates is against the law.
The city claims that in August 2005, it sent an official to conduct measurements. Like in previous cases, the company wouldn't let him in. The city then complained to the police and Intel agreed to let the measurement commence, conditional on the city yanking its complaint.
The city also found that for the last six years, Bank Discount has been operating a counter inside the Intel plant. The counter provides basic banking services on a 12-square meter area, about which neither the chipmaker or the bank advised the city.
An Intel Israel spokesperson explained that the company couldn?t comment on a pending legal matter, adding that the company's excellent relations with the Kiryat Gat municipality and the community in the city would be preserved, irrespective of the legal dispute.