Thursday, September 01, 2011

Vatican Bank president warns against higher taxes

The president of the Vatican Bank is warning that higher taxes are not a solution to the current economic crisis. 

“During a prolonged crisis, inheritance taxes, new forms of taxation or similar alternatives reduce or wipe out resources for investments, discouraging the trust of investors, penalizing the cost of the public debt and the possibilities of its renewal at its expiration,” writes Ettore Gotti Tedeschi.

“In this context, imposing taxes on property and on income is equivalent to a suicidal anti-subsidiarity of the state to the citizen.”

“High taxes penalize saving, generate distrust in the ability to stimulate recovery, hit families and prevent the formation of new ones, as well as creating uncertainty and precariousness in employment,” he adds. 

“In short, they lay the foundations for another phase of unsustainable development.”