Calls for worldwide tax justice at Vatican conference

Casina Pio IV, Wiki Image

The World Council of Churches (WCC) joined global leaders, economists, and faith-based organizations at the High-Level Dialogue on Tax Justice and Solidarity convened by the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences to call for urgent reforms in the global tax system.

The event, held at Casina Pio IV, home of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Vatican City, brought together influential voices-including president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, president Pedro Sánchez of Spain, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, and UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima -to address how tax justice can promote global equity and sustainability.

Discussions highlighted the moral imperative of fair taxation in addressing economic inequality, climate change, and the debt burdens on the world's most vulnerable nations. In her remarks, Athena Peralta, director of the WCC Commission on Climate Justice and Sustainable Development, stressed the urgent need to tackle tax injustice as a contributor to climate and social inequality.

"The scandalous levels of inequality we see today are also destabilizing efforts to fight runaway climate change. The wealthiest 10% of the world is responsible for nearly half of global carbon emissions. Billionaire lifestyles-private jets, yachts-produce thousands of times the emissions of the average person. However, their carbon footprint is over a million times higher when we include emissions from their investments. Tax justice must be part of the solution to the climate crisis."

Speakers at the event condemned the current "structures of sin"-tax havens and financial loopholes-that enable corporations and the ultra-wealthy to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, observed that the current financial and economic framework fuels inequality. He urged tax systems that "serve as a catalyst for solidarity and development." St Paul reminds us to pay taxes as a civic duty, he added.

Presidents Lula da Silva and Pedro Sánchez reinforced the necessity for a new financial architecture, which includes a UN Tax Convention to curb corporate tax avoidance and ensure fair taxation where profits are generated. The Rt. Hon. Aminata Touré, former prime minister of Senegal, emphasized that Africa lost $1 trillion in 2022 due to illicit financial flows-funds that could have been used to support healthcare, education, and climate adaptation efforts.

"With 2025 designated as a Jubilee Year by Pope Francis, the WCC emphasizes that debt cancellation and tax justice must go hand in hand to address growing inequalities," said Peralta. "The link between tax justice, gender justice, and climate justice reflects the biblical call for justice and stewardship, urging faith communities to raise their prophetic voice in advocating for systemic reforms."

LINKS

Zacchaeus Tax Campaign: www.oikoumene.org/what-we-do/sustainability-and-economy-of-life#zacchaeus-campaign

Calls of the Zacchaeus Tax Campaign: www.oikoumene.org/resources/documents/calls-of-the-zacchaeus-tax-campaign

WCC Joins "Tax the Super-Rich" Campaign: www.oikoumene.org/news/wcc-joins-tax-the-super-rich-campaign