Horror movies reflect our worst nightmares. The Day of the Triffids and The Little Shop of Horrors were classic examples involving man-eating plants. For those of us who dream tax, there has always been ‘The Company that Purchased its own Shares’, not a Hollywood Blockbuster, but a Tax Brainbuster. The plot is quite simple. A…
‘Power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages.’ Thus wrote Rudyard Kipling, author of the Jungle Book, in reference to the British Press. In a similar vein, ‘Leisure without taxation – the prerogative of the tourist in Israel throughout the ages,’ just about sums up the historic approach of the Israel…
Listening to some supporters of Israel’s new right-wing government, the casual foreigner could be forgiven for imagining that the country’s Supreme Court is modelled on a Dickensian opium den with a touch of John and Yoko’s Bed-In thrown into the mix for extra psychedelic peace and love. Alas, as witnessed by a non-headline grabbing…
Language is notoriously ambiguous, especially when it comes to official documents. A hundred years ago, the traitor Sir Roger Casement was hanged on a comma in the English Treason Act of 1351. Just this week, I had a long discussion around an exceptionally poorly worded clause in the Israel Income Tax Ordinance, the various interpretations…
If Economics is an inexact science, Transfer Pricing is alchemy. A recent court case involving the sale of describe-them-anyway-you-like intangibles by an Israeli company to its US multinational parent was a cautionary tale to anybody thinking of selling or gifting an asset to a foreign relative – be it a son, niece, Elon Musk, or…
"For our last number, I'd like to ask your help. The people in the cheaper seats, clap your hands. And the rest of you, if you’d just rattle your jewelry." John Lennon's immortal words at London's Royal Variety Performance in November 1963 reflected the weltanschauung of the time - Britain was careering towards a General…
If I had to admit to my biggest professional failure over a long career, it would be ‘telling it like it is’. Not for me the, ‘Oh my God! I don’t believe you did that, and if you don’t use my very expensive services, you may be heading for prison,’ when the true risk of…
Bach’s Double Violin Concerto was once played as a conversation between husband and wife, by two virtuosi, at a memorial service in Westminster Abbey for the late spouse of a prominent politician. A Tel Aviv Labor Court decision earlier this month suggested grounds for a similar musical parley between the National Insurance Institute and the…
Israel’s much vaunted ten-year tax holiday for new residents is viewed by some as the best thing since sliced bread. To me, it is analogous to shopping for food. My local Jerusalem pint-sized supermarket is no place for the uninitiated, and not much of a place for the initiated. Prices are high at this emporium…
Randolph and Jennie Churchill clearly understood their son better than my parents understood me. Winston once related that, as a young child, his mum and dad would not allow him to see the Boneless Wonder at P.T. Barnum’s famous circus, because the ‘spectacle would be too revolting and demoralizing for my youthful eyes’. An ‘exclusive’ …
Tax Break 