[Avodah] Taxes

[Yitzhak Grossman]

On Wed, 2 Jul 2008 08:55:16 -0400
"Rich, Joel" <JRich at sibson.com> wrote:

>  
> 
> On Tue, 1 Jul 2008 14:29:08 -0400
> Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:
> 
> > DDD applies to the law as practiced, not as codified. And while there
> 
> Source?  I've seen this claim, but I know of no authoritative source for
> it.
> 
> > -Micha
> 
> Yitzhak
> --
> IIUC it flows from a philosophical issue of what din means. For example
> if one takes the approach that DMD flows from the divine right of kings
> to rule as they see fit (the torah seems to assume this exists), what
> exactly is their rule - what is on the books or what they choose to
> enforce. If there were a poll tax that the king never collected, would
> you have to pay at the poll even though there was no one to collect it?
> Look at the flip side, what if a king were known to take $100 per head
> from each resident of a flood plain without ever codifying the rule,
> would you say he was a gazlan for taking the money and the town people
> could not pay it when the officers showed up?

Interesting points, but arguments can go both ways.  I wanted to know
about an authoritative source.

> KT
> Joel Rich

Yitzhak
--
Bein Din Ledin - bdl.freehostia.com
An advanced discussion of Hoshen Mishpat