Tsilly Dagan

• LL.B, LL.M., J.S.D
• Professor at Bar Ilan University

Bringing a unique voice to international taxation, this book argues against the conventional support of multilateral co-operation in favour of structured competition as a way to promote both justice and efficiency in international tax policy. Tsilly Dagan analyses international taxation as a decentralised market, where governments have increasingly...

Inequality, as well as the scope of the duty of justice to reduce it, has always been a central concern of political justice. Income taxation has been seen as a key tool for redistribution and the state was the arena for discussions of justice. Globalization and the tax competition it fosters among states change the context for the discussion of di...

In this study we systematically map and analyze all disability-related laws and regulations in Israel from 1948 – the year the State of Israel was established – to the present. All 55 laws and 124 regulations (and their amendments) that addressed disability were analyzed via qualitative content analysis; we categorized the legislation into either b...

In their classic article Why the Legal System Is Less Efficient Than the Income Tax in Redistributing Income, Louis Kaplow and Steven Shavell argued that tax laws are more efficient than other areas of law (such as private law) in redistributing income based on what is known as the “double distortion” argument.Contrary to this conventional wisdom,...

Commons property is a true challenge to the law, especially in a legal context that respects individual mobility, which is key to freedom and autonomy. While a tragedy of the commons is not inevitable, the sustainability – let alone flourishing – of the commons is far from obvious either. But the rewards of the latter trajectory are critical: a suc...

The canonical literature in law and economics has argued that tax laws are more efficient than other areas of law (e.g., private law) in redistributing income. Focusing on two basic features of globalization – marketization of the state-constituent relationship and the fragmentation of sovereignty – this Article demonstrates that globalization seri...

Policymakers and scholars troubled by the race to the bottom created by tax competition espouse a cooperative multilateral solution that will compel universal cooperation. This chapter suggests that cooperation should be treated with caution, as – despite its positive reputation – cooperation is not necessarily good per-se and its consequences are...

This article examines the appropriate tax treatment of communities through the unique example of the Israeli kibbutz, a community that is traditionally governed by the maxim "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." The case of the kibbutz highlights the tension between communities and the market in governing human inter...

The global competition for residents and investments inevitably transforms the very foundation of for countries' tax policy. It alters the way we (should) think of the classic normative goals of income tax policy. Efficiency, redistribution and even the concepts of community, national identity and democratic participation all pose significant new d...

Commodification has become the central parameter in delineating the contours of the market and in the division of labor between the market and the state. The commodification critique has become a 'buzz word' against the market and thus in support of State intervention. In what has been termed "taboo trades" - human organs, reproductive capacities,...

Tax is viewed as one of the main vehicles for wealth redistribution. This is why distributive justice is a key consideration in almost any normative discussion of tax policy. Ordinarily, such a discussion is held in the context of national policy, where we would like to think that the national sovereign designs tax rules in an efficient and just ma...

This Article uses comparative analysis of the issue of childcare deductions in the U.S., Canada and Israel in order to expose the non-technical nature of the business-personal distinction. The comparative analysis offered in this Article reveals significant differences in the ways in which courts in the three jurisdictions have interpreted the dist...

The classic commodification critique associates commodification with the introduction of money, or at least with the introduction of markets into relationships, blaming monetary evaluation ("price-tagging") for flattening human interaction. In a recent paper Bruce Carruthers has enriched the discussion of money and commodification by complicating t...

Individuals enjoy a host of rights in relation to the government, including voting rights, the right against self-incrimination, the right to public education, pollution quotas, as well as various subsidies and tax attributes. Should individuals be able to sell these public entitlements to others? Markets for voting rights or tax attributes may see...

This Article argues that tax law has a significant role in the design of non-market interactions. Tax law often translates real life into tax terms, and constructs our daily rituals as either non-deductible, personal consumption or deductible income-producing expenses. It depicts relationships as either taxable market transactions or as philanthrop...

This Article examines the interaction of tax policy and non-market exchanges. It discerns non-market attributes and interactions as a separate paradigm which coherently explains some significant questions of tax policy. Drawing on the rich body of literature on commodification, the Article offers an innovative theoretical framework for analyzing th...

This article reexamines some fundamental tax policy concepts through the analysis of commuting expenses. The article calls for a paradigm shift in the analysis of tax deductions. It proposes moving from the seemingly technical business-private distinction to an explicit normative framework for analyzing deductions. It expands the range of normative...

This Article reexamines some fundamental tax policy concepts through the analysis of commuting expenses. It challenges the well-entrenched distinction between personal and business expenses. This distinction, I argue, conceals fundamental normative choices that should be openly discussed. Indeed, this Article suggests that resorting to the substant...

The prevailing view regarding tax treaties emphasizes their role as the indispensable mechanism for alleviating double taxation of international transactions. Policymakers assume that tax treaties benefit everyone involved. By reducing the burden of double taxation, the treaties facilitate the free movement of capital, goods and services, and help...

This Article discusses the three levels of international tax (the unilateral, the bilateral and the multilateral). It describes the seemingly appealing arguments (based on cooperation) advocating neutrality, double taxation prevention, and harmonization. A closer look at these arguments, however, reveals that pursuing these goals often brings about...

שיטת המס הישראלית מתירה ניכוי של "הוצאות המשמשות בייצור הכנסה" ואוסרת את ניכוין של הוצאות פרטיות. מאמר זה מבקר את ההבחנה המקובלת, הבוחנת עד כמה מהווה ההוצאה חלק אינצידנטלי מתהליך ייצור ההכנסה וטוען כי היא ריקה מתוכן מהותי. העסקיוּת, טוען המאמר, אינה ואינה יכולה להיות השאלה האמיתית העומדת בבסיס ההבחנה בין ההוצאות המוכרות לבין אלה האסורות בניכוי. במק...