“I am looking for a technician” exclaimed a clothing store owner to tax inspectors, as they discovered he was selling garments to tourists without recording the sales. He insisted there is a problem with his cash register.

The clothing store, which is located in the center of the city, was making cash sales and he was placing the money in his pocket and not recording the income as the law requires.

Tax inspectors on motzei Shabbos visited 50 stores in the capital, of which five failed to record sales as regulated by law.

When inspectors identified themselves to a shift manager in a pizza shop in city center, he became frightened and he phoned the owner, who he explained told him not to cooperate with inspectors. Inspectors summoned police, who explained failing to cooperate is a violation of the law tantamount with interfering with a public servant’s carrying out his duties. Only then did the shift manager hesitantly agree to cooperate.

A jewelry store owner did not record sales of the sale of batteries. When apprehended, he explained “There was simply a lot of pressure at the register and perhaps I recorded this together with another similar sale.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)