Ethical Teachings of the Torah

Funding Social Costs - Taxation [2]

Although our sources do not specific- ally define the basis for the Jewish tax system, nevertheless it is possible to distinguish 4 four distinct concepts which provide the halakhic justification for the system.
HILKHOT SHECHEINIM
Neighbors sharing common facilities or adjoining property have, under rabbinic law, the ability to force one another to contribute to a joint fund to finance common needs. This would embrace municipal taxation where all members of the community are, so to speak, neighbors (Rama, Choshen Mishpat 176:29). “On the 15th of Adar [end of winter], the roads are to be repaired, the mikva’ot cleared [of fungi and mildew] and all the public needs settled” (Shekalim 1:1). The Yerushalmi obligates the Beit Din to force the community to do so; i.e., to use tax money or labor for this purpose.
A later example of such legislation is the decision of 16th century Vaad Padua to add another person to the two special gabbaim appointed in order to repair the paths and roads in the ghetto and enabling them to use the community funds for this purpose.
BEN HA’IR
[Obligations of the Citizen].
The Mishna (Bava Batra1:5) tells us that the people of a city can obligate all citizens to participate in the financing of projects needed for the security and well being of the town. Other instances can be brought to show that this power covered other area such as welfare and Torah education.
DIN HAMELEKH
[Rights of the King]
From the verses in Shmuel Alef (8:11-12,14-17) describing what the people’s fate will be under the king they demanded, it is clear that he has the power of taxation in kind, labor and land. The king’s right to appropriate land for public use [another form of tax] is also well founded in halakha; “A king has the right to make a way or break down walls and one [the owner of the property through which the road etc. passes] has no right to prevent him (Mishna Sanhedrin 2:1).
Modern t’shuvot have clearly established that democratically elected representatives have the same power as that provided by the law of the king (Tzitz Eliezer, part 10, section1:3, Mishpat Kohen, section 148).
Power corrupts, so that the king or the state often invokes these rights for   personal gain and interest, rather than the public good. It is fascinating therefore to discover in the story of Navot’s vineyard (Melachim Alef 21), the Tanach’s check on Din HaMelekh to ensure that it is not used for corrupt purposes. What right did Navot have to refuse to sell his vineyard to the king who has the right of eminent domain? Rashi explains that Achav wanted it for idolatrous purposes and therefore Navot’s refusal was justified. Abarbanel points out that the vineyard was in Jezreel where, in contrast to Shomron the capital, Achav was merely a private citizen-neighbor. In Shomron the enforced sale would be Din HaMelekh, but here the sale would legitimize the king’s use of power for his personal benefit.
DINA D’MALKHUTA
(The Law of the Land)
All the halakhic authorities recognize the obligation of Jews to obey the law of the land in regard to economic and business activity including taxation; “one who does not pay his taxes or evades the custom levies [of the gentile ruler] is as one who steals the share of the king” (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Gezeila v’Aveida 5:11; Choshen Mishpat 169:15). So these laws become halhkically binding except where they contradict the Torahs’ laws.
Rambam and Shulchan Arukh rule that dina d’malkhuta, including the right of taxation, applies not only to gentile kings but also to Jewish rulers not of the Davidic dynasty to whom Din HaMelekh applies. Rabbi Nissim of Gerondi sees the power of gentile kings to expel Jews from Eretz Yisrael as the basis of dina d’malkhuta. Since no Jewish kings have such power, this does not apply to them; often this is used to justify tax evasion. However, HaRav Ovadiah Yosef (Yachvei De’ah 5:67), has ruled that dina d’malkhuta applies today to the State of Israel, making its tax laws halakhically binding. Furthermore, nowadays the treasury is not the private preserve of a king but a communal fund, financed by the representatives of the citizens and funding their social welfare, security and economic needs. This makes our fiscal system primarily a function of Din Shecheinim or B’nei Ha’ir; indeed rulings of the Rashba (T’shuvot HaRashba, part 4,185) and others, support this concept.

Dr Tamari’s new book - “Truths Desired by God: An Excursion Into the Weekly Haftarah” is published by Gefen Publishers

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