The legacy of Pope Francis in terms of taxation
3' min read
3' min read
Pope Francis has made an invaluable contribution in the area of taxation, an essential part of his great legacy.
The Social Doctrine of the Church (and the Pontiffs) have been talking about taxes for a long time. Without going to the Gospels or Acts, we find mention of it (among others) in Rerum Novarum (1891), in Quadragesimo Anno (1931), in Mater et magistra (1961). But the references to the tax, in these and other broad economic-social documents, were mere hints (thus Galmarini and Giarda, Dizionario della Dottrina sociale, 2004). Suffice it to think, then, that out of the 2865 issues of the Catechism of the Catholic Church only one (2240) mentions taxes, and the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church dedicates only one issue - 355 - to the subject (thus G. Salvini, La Civiltà Cattolica, 2006).
In recent decades, however, the subject had seen a crescendo of interest on the part of the Magisterium, picked up by Pope Francis with an unprecedented attention and perspective: there is confirmation of this in speeches, encyclical letters, and documents of Dicasteries, from which emerges an extraordinarily modern reading of the phenomenon, which sees the tax in its extra-fiscal function and thus in its effects, particularly towards the weak and the environment.
This is new, both with reference to individual topics and in general.
Specific topics include tax havens and environmental protection.
