Q&A: Fraud against the National Insurance Institute
Fraud against the National Insurance Institute
Question
As is well known, a lot of people go and get a "disability" designation for their child and receive money from the National Insurance Institute. Contrary to what people think, this is a widespread phenomenon that cuts across many sectors, not just Haredim. I heard an argument in favor of this, even though it is fraud: in the end, compared to other countries in the world, the State of Israel is the biggest robber there is—through taxes, the cost of living, and terrible public services (maybe except for healthcare). In short, is there any moral right to get money out of them on the claim that this state doesn’t give much and devours its inhabitants?
Answer
A very poor argument. This is theft from the public. Anyone who is unhappy with how the state is run should move to another country or try to fix it. This is much worse than tax evasion, because here there is actual theft and not merely non-payment, and it comes out of a specific budget rather than the state’s general treasury.
Discussion on Answer
I didn’t understand the question.
The tradesman doesn’t want to pay tax. So when you do renovations in your home, he tells you: give me 100,000 NIS in cash, say, or 120 by bank transfer, on the pretext that he has to pay VAT. And income tax too, of course.
Are you obligated to pay him by bank transfer?
The question isn’t really related to the original question, just by association.
That is forbidden by law.
Just as an aside, as a business owner, I share the feeling that the state is extorting us. But fortunately I get past that feeling and understand that everything that happens in our democratic state is transparent, and you can see that we’re simply a country that needs high maintenance fees. That’s the reality.
As for the conduct of public bodies that sometimes take money from you unlawfully, it’s worth knowing that this is the nature of large organizations. All over the world. Kafka made a career out of it.
Rabbi Michi,
As is well known, a person is permitted to take the law into his own hands if he cannot recover the money through legal process. If a public body robbed you—for example, charged import duties higher than required, something that happens quite a bit, and sometimes the bureaucratic foot-dragging prevents you from appealing with reasonable effort—is it permitted to rig things so as to get your money back? (For example, to lie to customs the next time.)
Second question (if this chain of associations continues, I’ll keep writing questions until the site crashes 🤦)
Everyone who orders from AliExpress knows that products that are liable for customs regularly slip past the officials.
Is the responsibility entirely on the officials, or on the person placing the order?
In my opinion, definitely yes. Of course, you should be able to defend this in the heavenly court.
The responsibility is on the officials, but if you know that they missed it, then this is theft from the state, and in principle you should report it. Again, within the bounds of good taste and common sense.
And what about a tradesman (for a large amount) who gives a huge discount for cash payment—20%, on sums of around 100,000 NIS?
In your opinion, is that forbidden?