A Tel Aviv court ruled Sunday that a working mother was entitled to deduct the cost of daycare for her two children from her taxes. Justice Magen Altuvia ruled that the cost of daycare was purely a business expenditure, as the mother could not have worked without paying for daycare. She ordered the state to reimburse the woman for one half the expenditure for daycare centers that provided the children with meals, and two-thirds of the amount requested for daycare centers that did not provide food.
The mother argued that she would have preferred to remain with her children, but was unable to do so, because if she had taken time away from her career she would have been unable to return. The woman, who works independently as a lawyer, said that she relies on word of mouth to advertise her services, and would be unable to rebuild her client base after leaving work for an extended period of time.
State attorneys argued that lawmakers had not intended to recognize daycare costs as business expenditures. Instead, the cost of daycare was recognized in other ways, such as through tax breaks for working mothers of young children, they said.