Shemos 5786 – Tax the Jews, Stop the Babies

It all started with taxes. The first move which Pharaoh made in order to enslave the Jewish people was to tax them.

“Let’s come and be clever about this, maybe they’ll multiply, and when there’s a war, they’ll join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the land. So, he appointed over them tax officers in order to oppress them with suffering.” (1:10–11)

The commentators ask what the connection is between the problem and the solution in the eyes of Pharaoh. The Jews were multiplying and rapidly expanding their demographic within Egypt, so why was taxing them a solution?

Chizkuni says that the form of tax was through labour services. Therefore, the Jews would be so tired from working that they would come home at the end of the day and collapse, not having any time or energy for their wives. Ibn Ezra suggests that the back-breaking labour would cause the men to become medically infertile.

This, Pharaoh thought, would stop the Jewish people in their tracks. However, Chazal tell us the story of the efforts the righteous women of that generation put in to ensure that they would carry on bearing children even under the most depressing of circumstances.

Taxes and financial incentives have been used across the world to influence fertility rates. Famously, China’s one-child rule, which existed between 1980–2016, gave crippling fines to families that exceeded the one-child limit. The cultural preference for having boys means there is now a major shidduch crisis in China as the country lacks 30 million women. Since 2016 the Chinese Communist Party has performed a radical about-turn, now implementing policies to encourage childbirth.

In Israel, there are Nekudot Zikui, tax credit points, for every child under 18. This means the tax system does encourage families to expand through income tax breaks.

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