Meir Linzen (Herzog, Fox & Neeman)

<p>Mair Linzen manages to chair both the largest law firm of Israel (Herzog, Fox & Neeman) and its best tax practice, as recognised by many independent reviews. </p><p><i>Links with Latvia</i></p><p>We started the conversation with a fact that not many in Israel now the Baltic states and Latvia, but there is a lot in common. Meir’s spouse is from Latvia and he told about a lot of significant connections between those two countries – it was a miracle how a person with Latvian origins helped to preserve Hebrew language, for example. Also, Latvian chocolate factory Laima belonged to a Jewish family before the World War. The government forced them to sell Laima and with that money the family established a similar factory in Israel – so their chocolate to a large extent has Latvian roots. Musician Mischa Maisky was born in Riga, and there are some good examples of Israeli politicians with the Latvian roots. </p><p><i>For your reading table</i></p><p>Meir has an extensive variety of interests besides the work – reading (non-fiction, especially on history), classical music, travelling. For your reading table Meir suggested Israeli writers Amos Oz, and two Nobel Prize winners in literature - Shmuel Agnon and Isaac Bashevis Singer.</p><p><i>Immigration boost to the economy</i></p><p>When about 1 million people came from the ex-Soviet Union when it collapsed many thought it will destroy the economy of Israel, but quite the opposite happened. Now the IT sector is booming to a large extent thanks to the 2nd generation of those immigrants. </p><p><i>Tax story</i></p><p>The tax story this time has a funny element – will not spoil the fun – you have to listen to it for yourself. </p><p><i>How fair is progressive income tax</i></p><p>We also discussed how fair is the progressive income taxation. Meir kindly shared his view that the more educated and paid have a certain responsibility for the less well paid. Also in the times like with the Covid-19 crisis the governments took most of the burden. In times like that the less educat