Reply To: Taxes in Eretz Yisroel

Ujm- as I understood it, it’s a machlokes between the Ran and other Rishonim. Does the Shulchan Arich and other early poskim bring down the Ran lehalacha? I was under the impression that they do not.

Also, the Rans sevara is that no foreign government can demand we pay tax ,which is a form of rental payment, for Eretz Yisroel as we own Eretz Yisroel, not them. I’m not sure if the Rans psak would change as the function of taxes nowadays has nothing to do with permission to live here, but rather it’s paying for services that all citizens and residents utilize.

Thirdly, my point was not about halacha. I thought I specifically made that point. Even if halacha doesn’t require us to pay taxes, then that would mean nobody is required to pay taxes. Is that a society we would want to be a part of? Practically speaking, following the letter of the law would create mass anarchy and a non functioning society. We wouldn’t want our society as a whole to abuse that Ran which would be disastrous for all of us… So it seems ingenious to use the Ran as an excuse for tax evasion when we fully expect and desire the rest of Israeli society to pick up the slack and pay for all the services we want and need but refuse to pay for because of the Ran.