 One of the guiding principles in responding to questions of Jewish law is the economic impact one's decision will have on the questioner. The subjective principle of hefesed meruba (a great monetary loss) allows, perhaps obligates, one to override many of our rabbinic prohibitions. It even allows for the non-performance of positive biblical commands if the cost of observing such reach 20% of one's income (Biblical prohibitions can only be overridden only in cases of pikuch nefesh - danger to life, and according to some authorities, limb).
The expense of making Peach make this issue most germane. Especially at this time of year those of means must be most conscious of their communal obligations to the less fortunate of society (and there are many of those within our community). The laws of Pesach as codified in the Shulchan Aruch begin by describing the mitzvah of maot chitim providing the poor with the basic holiday necessities, holidays being a time when poverty takes a greater mental toll than usual. The codes discuss residency requirements both for those giving and receiving the charity, requirements that in many ways parallel those found in Canadian tax code vis a vis determining residency status for tax purposes.
Pesach is time when many Jews from across the religious spectrum are more meticulous in their religious observance. Nonetheless one must be careful that these "higher" standards not come at too high a price. One who receives a subsidy for Jewish education, for example, should not be spending upwards of $20 a pound on hand made matza when perfectly kosher matza is available for a fraction of the price. Rabbinic leaders would commonly decree communal boycotts of items when they felt that prices had been unfairly raised, depriving even the rich of i.e. fish for the holidays.
However nothing has had a more profound effect on the economics of Passover than the selling of chametz to a non Jew for the duration of Passover. A cursory reading of the Torah makes it quite clear that we are to destroy all remnants of chametz in our possession - using a legal fiction transfer ownership to a non Jew seems, shall we say unkosher.
Yet in our modern day economy legal fictions a.k.a. corporations have been created for the sole purpose of making it easier to make money and avoid personal responsibly for corporate losses. Lawyers and accountants constantly concoct plans to legally present transactions in such a way that will be beneficial to their clients who pay good money for such advice. A simple common example will suffice, one applicable to those who have both mortgages on their homes and other investments. By properly structuring the mortgage, the interest can be made tax deductible saving thousands of dollars in taxes, all because of a legal fiction. Selling chametz in really no different, being a legal way to creatively avoid a monetary loss.
That being said until the advent of modern refrigeration when food did not keep for long destroying chametz (or giving it to your non Jewish neighbour) cost little, consequently there was no need (or desire) for selling chametz . But in our modern day economy where people can have thousands and those in the food industry millions, of dollars worth of chametz our Rabbis applied the Talmudic maxim that "G-d is concerned for the money of the Jewish people". Where feasible, and not onerously y expensive it seems appropriate that instead of relying on the sale of chametz one should donate the food to a food bank - thereby getting rid of our chametz and fulfilling an act of tzedaka at the same time.
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