Civil Appeal 7719/21 Saleh Hasarmeh v. Haifa Assessor - part 11

Judge Y.  Amit:

1. My friend, the judge א' שטיין, concluded that the three appeals of the team and of the players Hasarmeh and Abed should be accepted (Civil Appeal 7719/21 andCivil Appeal 7730/21 respectively), and to recognize them as those who have determined the center of their lives in Kiryat Shmona. My opinion on this matter is different and I am of the opinion that the three appeals should be dismissed.  I will explain my position below.
2. I agree with my colleague that the expression "center of life" may be interpreted differently in different statutes, and even in the same statute, and we have already learned that ""Speech that is enacted is a creature that lives in its environment. It derives its character from the context of things" (High Court of Justice 58/68 Shalit N' Minister of the Interior, פ"4:20"III (2) 477, 513 (1970); High Court of Justice 4562/92 Zandberg v.' The Broadcasting Authority, פ"D.N.(2) 793, 802 (1996)).  Hence, the term "resident" may have different interpretations and meanings in different statutes (see, for example, Civil Appeal 657/76 The competent authority for the purpose of Nazi Persecution Disabled Persons Law, 5717-1957 v.  Chasdai, פ"D.L."II(1) 778, 781 (1978)).

However, the aspiration is for legislative harmony, and when it comes to the same law and a similar issue of residency for the purpose of taxation, I believe that the essential test of a center of life should be interpreted in a similar way.  Section 1 30Income Tax Ordinance [New Version], 5721-1961 (hereinafter: The Command) refers indeed to "resident of Israel" and not to"resident" in a certain locality, which is "An individual whose center of life is in the same locality" As stated In the section 11(a) to the command.  However, given that we are dealing with the same legislation and the same issue of the center of life, the detailed indications In the section 1(a)(1) The Ordinance regarding the center of life of an Israeli resident can be used by us, even if by analogy, with respect to "An individual whose center of life is in the same locality." In both cases, it is necessary to examine from the objective aspect where the taxpayer's most affinities are located, and from the subjective aspect, what was the taxpayer's intention and where he sees the center of his life (compare Civil Appeal 477/02 Gonen v.  Haifa Tax Assessor, paragraph 9 [Published in Nevo] (29.12.2005) where a provision was discussed Section 1 to the Ordinance).  In practice, although this was not explicitly stated, this court adopted the tests of Section 1 The Ordinance also applies to the purpose of examining the center of life of a resident of a locality who is entitled to a tax benefit (hereinafter: Beneficiary Settlement) (Civil Appeal 8234/11 Baltinsky v.  Acre Tax Assessor [Published in Nevo] (6.2.2014)).

3. When we come to examine whether the center of a person's life is in a particular locality, we must examine the entirety of the connections that bind a certain person to that locality, with the weight and strength of each connection May be different. Thus, for example, the fact that a certain person does not manage his account at a bank branch in the same locality is an affinity with a low negative weight.  This is in view of the decline in the status of the bank branch and the decline in the status of the direct contact and the unmediated with the bank clerk, given the technological age today, in which it is possible to perform most of the transactions in the bank account anyway Without going to the bank branch.  On the other hand, the fact that the family of a certain person is not in the community carries great weight, since in the normal state of affairs, a person ties his family to his permanent place of residence.  The length of stay in the beneficiary's settlement is also not an indication, and for our purposes what has been said, albeit in a different context:

" [...] The question is what is the nature of temporary absence, and how can it be determined that the absence has lost its impermanence and has reached a point where it is capable of permanently severing the connection to residence...  The length of time in itself cannot serve as an exclusive and sufficient measure, and an additional - substantial - examination of the nature of the absence is required.  Thus, for example, an absence for a definite and transient purpose may last for a long time without losing its temporary nature.  Thus, a person who requires prolonged hospitalization due to his medical condition may be absent from his home for a long time, and thus does not necessarily sever the residential connection to his home.  Or, for example, a person who resides overseas due to a position in the state's mission.  The stay abroad is limited to the period of employment, and even if it may continue, the absence does not lose its impermanence, and it does not necessarily detach the subject of the position from the damage to his home" (Civil Appeal 4127/95 Salkind v.  Beit Zayit - Moshav Ovdim for Cooperative Settlement Ltd., IsrSC 52(2) 306, 319-320 (1998)).

4. My colleague is of the opinion that the tax assessor must relate to the "contribution relation", i.e., the taxpayer's contribution to the development of the settlement, and he must give this figure special weight in comparison to the other relevant data and connections (paragraph 24 of his judgment).

Proper purpose of Section 11 The ordinance is to disperse the population, encourage settlement in peripheral areas or in areas far from the center, and in general, strengthen the localities that are entitled to a tax benefit.  All this is done by encouraging "emigration" to those localities, in order to increase the number of residents and in order to contribute to their socio-economic development (to the criteria, and more precisely, to the absence of the criteria that were used to determine the beneficiary localities according to the Section 11 For the command, see High Court of Justice 8300/02 Mizra'a Local Council v.  State of Israel [Published in Nevo] (May 22, 2012)).  The benefit will be given to those who actually live in the beneficiary's locality and manage their center of life there.  However, when we come to examine the center of life, we should not distinguish between a donor resident and a donated resident, between someone whose contribution to the development of the community is high and one whose contribution is negligible or negligible.  It is difficult to satisfy that for the purpose of determining a "center of life" we will begin to compare the specific contribution of a college rector to the community, and the specific contribution to the community of the owner of a mini-market or of a certain woman who finds her livelihood as a housekeeper in the homes of the residents of the community.  The distinction proposed by my colleague is unequal, not objective, and difficult to implement.

5. I am correct to assume, as my colleague noted, that professional sports in general, and professional football in particular, have unique characteristics. There is no rabbi in this.  The high-tech industry also has unique characteristics, as do other businesses and employment sectors.  When we come to examine the center of life of an athlete, as well as of an academic who teaches at a college in a better locality, we must examine the center of life according to as objective indicators and tests as possible, taking into account In the familial and social connections, The Economics, culture, etc..  To the objective tests must also be added the subjective aspect, i.e., where the taxpayer himself sees the center of his life.  Let's take for example an academic who heads a college in a benevolent community, who does not dispute his special contribution to the building and development of the community, and who comes to the college every weekday in the morning and returns to his home and family in the nearby city after dark.  I do not believe that he should be seen as having the center of his life in the beneficiary locality, despite the fact that he works 60 hours a week in that locality and despite his specific contribution to the development of the beneficiary locality.
6. My colleague's statement that the center of a professional footballer's life is his team is a captivating statement, but I do not believe that it can be accepted as a kind of presumption that the tax assessor must contradict. When we come to examine the issue before us, we must start from two starting points:
7. A. Since this is a tax benefit, as an exception, it must be interpreted strictly, in order to preserve the principle of equality in relation to other taxpayers.
8. II. The burden is on the claimant to be entitled to the resulting tax benefit From Section 11 to the command.

(And see pp"The (Hai District') 546/04 Najib v.  Acre Tax Assessor, paragraph 9 and the references there [Posted inNevo] (September 3, 2006) (hereinafter: עניין Najib); pp"The (Hai District') 301/02 Katz v.  Acre Tax Assessor, paragraph 6 and the references therein (September 2, 2003); Tax Appeal 833/08 (Hai District') Zucker-Lugasi v.  Acre Tax Assessor, paragraph 21 and the references therein [Posted inNevo] (17.2.2010) (Hereinafter: עניין Zucker-Lugasi); pp"The (Hai District') 151/92 Dakwar v.  Haifa Tax Assessor [Posted inNevo] (6.3.1994) (hereinafter: עניין Decoar)).

7. In my opinion, the law of a professional footballer is no different from that of other fields when it comes to examining the question of "center of life". Nor do I think that we should bring our bread at this point from the law in the United States, given the enormous size of the United States.  Naturally, someone who plays professional basketball on a team on the West Coast will find it difficult for us to see him as someone whose center of life is in the eastern state of Vermont.  This is not the case with regard to little Israel, and before I go into the specific matter of Abed and Hasarmeh, I will note that we are not talking about those who lived in Eilat before they joined the Kiryat Shmona group.
8. The plain meaning of the Bible is that the "center of life" of a resident is his permanent place of residence, it is the race from which the various affiliations and roots in the locality or country are sent (cf. the words of the judge From' Mazuz Other Municipality Requests 476/17 Amit v.  Holon Assessor [Published in Nevo] (9.10.2018)).  A center of life is not a place where a person is burdened on his shoulders every weekend when he returns to his family, nor is it a place where a person has the opportunity at any time to leave and return to the place from which he came, and the examination of the matter is substantive and not technical (In Tax Appeal (Hai District) 21313-05-15 Yaakov v.  Acre Tax Assessor [Published in Nevo] (November 25, 2016)).  Specifically: The legislature was not satisfied with a place of residence, and even the fact that a person owns an apartment in a certain locality does not make him someone whose center of life is in that locality.  Thus, Other Municipality Requests 1117/92 Lundner v.  Value Added Tax Administrator, Jerusalem, Piskei Din 47(5) 91 (1993), it was held that the appellant, a dentist who worked several days a month in Eilat, should not be regarded as a "resident of the Eilat area" despite the fact that she had purchased an apartment in Eilat and despite the fact that she had changed her address in the population registry accordingly (and see also Miscellaneous Appeal (District Court) 73/94 Sittin v.  Administrator MTax Appeal Tiberias Paragraph 8 and the references there [Published in Nevo] (7.5.1995)).  The legislature used the words "resident of the locality", when the purpose is to encourage immigration to that locality, and against the background of this purpose, the words "center of life" should be interpreted.
9. And what is the meaning of the striking? Against the background of these principles, we will examine the case of Hasarmeh and Abed, and my conclusion regarding them is in any case correct for the group's appeal on this issue.

Hasarmeh's Appeal (Civil Appeal 7719/21)

10. Hasarmeh played In the Kiryat Shmona Municipal Football Team for seven years, and his appeal focuses on the tax years 2011-2012.

Hasarmeh was born and raised inKfar Ba'ana.  His family Extended, His wife andFour His children, still live inKfar Ba'ana, where it is theYou will live permanently Before he started playing for the team and after he finished playing for the team.  The distance between Ba'ana and Kiryat Shmona is 63 km, a little less than an hour's drive, a time that allows for a daily commute to work.  Account TheBank of Hasarmeh At the branch located near the village and in the relevant period He Was Member of the Clalit Health Fund at the Baana Branch.