Knesset
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Israel needs regional government
Centralized government in Jerusalem is costly, ineffective and doesn't meet Israel's needs
Countries are not very different from large corporations. Each has revenues and expenses and is expected to provide a product or service to its customers. When it fails to do so, the enterprise either goes bankrupt or reorganizes in such a way that the company can return to profitability.
Israeli taxpayers need to initiate a reorganization of its assets and management structure so that the enterprise "Israel Inc." can operate more efficiently and produce a better return on investment for the capital (public tax revenues) that it consumes each year.
This can be done through a system of “regional government.”
What is 'regional government'?
Government services can be allocated and provided to the Israeli public on a regional basis more efficiently than on a federal basis. The current centralized system is very costly and the quality of government services is not exactly world class, to say the least.
How would a “regional government” in Israel look?
Like this:
1) The Northern regional government would include the entire Galilee, Golan Heights, Nahariya, Haifa, Yokneam, Zichron Ya'acov, Tiberias and Afula.
2) The Central regional government would include Hadera, Netanya, the moshavim between Hadera-Netanya, Ra'anana, Kfar Saba, Ariel, all of Binyamin settlements, North Tel Aviv, Ramat Hasharon, Herzlyia, Rosh Ha'ayin and Petach Tikva.
3) The Tel Aviv regional government would include Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Givat Shmuel, B'nei Brak, Ramat Efal, Givatayim, Savion, Yehud, Or Yehuda, Holon, Bat Yam, Modi'in, the moshavim between Tel Aviv and the airport and would extend as far south as Rishon Lezion.
4) The Negev regional government would include Eilat, the Dead Sea, Beer Sheva, the Negev, Ashdod, Kiryat Malachi, Kiryat Gat, Ashkelon, Ramle-Lod, Rehovot and Yavne.
5) The Jerusalem regional government would include western and central Jerusalem, the settlements around Jerusalem, Gush Etzion and extend west to Beit Shemesh.
Promoting prosperity
Such a move would maximize Israel's core value by allowing decisions to be made on the regional level. Such a move would spur commerce and business activity; people would have the freedom to look abroad to find partners for business and other activities. If they had to go through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, then no activity would take place. The benefit to each region for all of this "new" activity, business and cultural, would be a major benefit of regional government to all five regions.
In short, the five regions have much more to gain financially by having their own identities as opposed to being part of a centralized system that affords them no autonomy whatsoever. This system would also allow Israel's GDP to grow much faster than the current system.
Regional government equals efficient government
Israel's standard of living and quality of life may be on the rise, but what are Israelis receiving for the taxes they pay each year? Does the government provide its contracted services to its citizens?
Israelis work very hard and are resourceful and dedicated. That explains why there is a USD 130 billion pie to slice. But when it comes to taxation, the current government takes about USD 50 billion and gives it to the ruling coalition, who gives it to the ministers, who then give it to the people that run the ministries. We know what happens after that.
As taxpayers, we must ask ourselves: How can we relieve ourselves of all that the current system produces- with the USD 50 billion the Israeli taxpayers provide it with?
New layer
One alternative to the current centralized system is regional government. Regional governments can exist in place of the centralized government currently based in Jerusalem.
The problem with the provision of government services in Israel isn't due to a lack of resources, but rather to the inefficient allocation of those fiscal resources.
Introducing regional government to Israel requires a change in the way government services are structured and financed.
A regional form of government would create a new layer separate from the government that exists in Jerusalem. From regional capitals in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Netanya, Haifa and Beersheva, regional governments would operate as alternatives to the existing Knesset system and its party-based, federal system of government.
It would also replace nearly all of the government apparatus currently based in Jerusalem and used by the current system to allocate fiscal resources to the Israeli public, as well as the city governments (local councils) throughout Israel.
Five regions
The ultimate goal of any governmental system of taxation is to provide the highest quality of government service to the public. The current system provides a very low level of service to the public, at a very high cost to the Israeli taxpayer.
By contrast, if governments were based regionally, decisions about schools, universities, sports facilities and hospitals would be made by people who live and work in the region, rather than from a government official's office in Jerusalem. Government services can be better handled by professionals in the region rather than government workers based in Jerusalem, far away from 85 percent of the residents of this country.
If we take away the current ministry budgets, the current system and all the negatives it produces will eventually disappear. What keeps the current system alive are ongoing tax revenues. If these were directed to regional governments that would provide those same government services, Israeli taxpayers and the Israeli economy would reap huge benefits.
The only way to rid the state of Israel of its current form of centralized government is to strip the political parties of their control over the budgets. If those budgets were formulated and the money regionally, there would be no reason for most of the central government apparatus to exist.
Regional government would enable the public to demand the government service they are entitled to. No "revolution" or "rebellion" that threatens the political stability of the state is required.
Taxes would remain the same, but would be used more efficient, and would more likely serve the real needs of individual Israelis.
Joel Bainerman has been a writer on Israeli economic issues since 1983. His published archive can be viewed on his website at www.joelbainerman.com
