RABBI WEIN ON TAXES

One of the major certainties of human life is that we are all obliged to pay taxes to the governments that rule over us. In the history of humankind there has never been a government that did not need more money. Governments are by their very nature, inefficient and wasteful of the money that it brings in. Therefore all cost-cutting measures no matter how loudly publicized and grandly advertised are never sufficient to reduce the tax burden on the general population. Our wonderful little country has a maze of tax laws and Israelis are very heavily taxed by the VAT (Value Added Tax) on almost all items and services purchased in the country as well as by an almost confiscatory personal income tax. In addition to this, there is the universal Social Security tax that is constantly rising. Then there exists the dreaded arnona real estate tax and other ingenious forms of city and local taxation. To put it all together we pay a lot of money to the local and national governments in taxes. But that is not an Israeli phenomenon. All European countries also have high taxes and the United States will also witness a significant rise in taxes this year.