Q&A: Request for a Municipal Property Tax Discount
Request for a Municipal Property Tax Discount
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I recently spoke with a friend who lives in a Haredi city, and he told me that many of the residents of his city, including himself, apply for a discount on municipal property tax based on submitting forged pay slips that make it appear as though they have a low income, such that they meet the criteria for the discount entitlement (we are talking about a discount worth thousands of shekels).
When I argued that this involves lying and fraud, my friend replied with several supposedly good reasons:
- The city's services are among the worst in the country, and according to him amount basically only to garbage collection. Aside from that: the sidewalks are not repaired, the roads are full of potholes, there is no enforcement of building regulations, there is filth, and the city is infested with rats and mice.
- Several articles were published in the past about that same municipality describing how it allegedly engages in corruption with public funds, arranging fictitious jobs, handing out jobs to cronies, and embezzlement. None of this has been proven conclusively (otherwise there would probably already have been an indictment), but the rumors around the matter have not stopped.
- The municipality knows that most of the city's residents do this and turns a blind eye, so there is no deception involved. He told me how one of the clerks herself said to another friend of his that he should just write such-and-such on the form and then he would be able to get the discount.
In short, he says: why should I give the best of my money to a municipality that does not provide elementary services to its residents, and on top of that embezzles that money?
What does the Rabbi think about this?
Answer
In my opinion, strictly speaking under the law this is prohibited. But it is hard to condemn a person in such a situation. Unfortunately, I am not surprised, neither by the municipality nor by its residents.
Discussion on Answer
Several times in the past, institutions subsidized by the state offered me “deals” in which I would issue them an invoice for an amount far higher than the real price, and in return I would receive a substantial part of the difference (+ a VAT refund on the difference).
Of course I refused. Just an example of the rampant theft among those who grew up on the idea that the state is the enemy.
And why would we not apply here the rule that a person may enforce his own rights, after the municipality does not act fairly toward its residents?
Because this is not enforcing your own rights.
You do not know exactly how much is owed to you, nor whether you are taking money that belongs to other residents. It is legitimate to do this as a protest, not as enforcing your own rights.
I heard that some municipality puts on “Torah” events with Haredi singers or all kinds of performers through some company that inflates the real expenses by a factor of three from the outset,
and in that fictitious inflation, while the municipality pays for it, the operatives split the difference,
and everyone profits—that is, they steal…