Q&A: VAT
VAT
Question
Is buying an item (like a diamond, for example) in cash in order to be exempt from paying VAT prohibited under Jewish law as theft, or as something else? S
Answer
I don’t see this as theft, because it’s hard to point to something here that was actually stolen (you didn’t receive a concrete service that you failed to pay for). But it is still prohibited. The law of the land and society’s regulations are halakhically binding.
Discussion on Answer
The fact that the government knows doesn’t really matter. If the average person does this, that could be relevant for leniency, as long as it’s done to a reasonable extent. As a rule, I think it’s not proper to do this.
The buyer has no obligation at all to pay. The obligation is on the seller. The buyer violates “do not place a stumbling block.”
No, because the seller offered him the solution of buying the item in cash, so if there is a prohibition then both are at fault: the seller for making the offer and carrying it out, and the buyer for agreeing and making the purchase.
And even if almost everyone does this, and the government certainly knows that they do, is it still prohibited?