I checked my bank account today to find that some government entity, which it turns out is Mas Hachnasa (the income tax authority) has for some reason given me, or my wife, I’m not sure which, a “negative income tax” or a “work grant” of 2,970 NIS.

I have no idea why. I didn’t ask for it, I nobody applied for it, and we don’t want it. I found out you get it if you hav e a low enough income. Since technically I don’t even have a job in Israel, I guess I fit that profile. On the website of this group of loot-divvying bureaucrats is a fairly stupid slogan.

It says: Work Grant – Starting Today It Is More Worthwhile to Work

Orwellian up the wazoo and farther.

A “Work Grant” I would assume would be a GRANT FOR WORKING. This is more like a NOT WORKING grant. And the slogan “Starting Today It Is More Worthwhile to Work” – is totally the opposite of what negative income taxes do. They pay you NOT to work, so I don’t know what the hell this is talking about.

I find in Israel that bureaucrats really want to give you money. The whole maternity leave thing they said they wouldn’t give it to my wife until she confirmed her name is on the bank account. We never confirmed, and they sent it anyway. They say you have to apply for a Not Work Grant, nobody applied, and it suddenly shows up in my account today.

It’s going out of my account as soon as I confirm with the little twits that this wasn’t a mistake. Problem is, I can’t get them to answer the freaking phone.

Here’s Hazlitt on the Negative Income Tax and its destructiveness.