Can online shopping and remote work create an opportunity for local property tax reform? The case of Israel

Municipalities’ overreliance on business property taxes distorts urban planning decisions, exacerbates fiscal disparities, and is threatened by online shopping and remote work. Based on fiscal data analysis and interviews, we examine whether a shift of local tax burdens from business to residential uses is inevitable and possible in the Israeli context. We reveal differential vulnerability to decreasing non-residential tax revenues; however, rather than suggesting innovative reforms, stakeholders elaborate on formidable political barriers to change. To move beyond incremental changes, decision makers must seize rare ‘windows of opportunity’, but growing populism may deter them from attempting to destabilize an outdated status-quo.