CHURCHES AND FINANCIAL CRISIS
Austria: introducing donations’ deductionCharity organisations in Austria continue lobbying politicians to enable the tax-deduction of donations. For this purpose, on November 25 NGO representatives sent a DVD to Günther Stummvoll, President of the Finance Commission of the Austrian Parliament, with the statements of the different parties. In fact, during the electoral campaign, all political groups had voiced their support to donations’ deductibility. The DVD is meant to solicit political parties to implement their declarations, since the Spö/Övp government program doesn’t envisage measures to this regard. Upon receiving the DVD, Stummvoll assured that deductibility will be provided for in the fiscal reform planned in 2010. He however ruled out the possibility that this might already happen in 2009, as hoped by the NGOs. In an interview with Catholic news agency Kathpress, Franz Küberl, Caritas President, expressed scepticism regarding Stummvoll’s claim: “we have been promised the implementation of the provision on numerous occasions. We shall continue lobbying politicians through, demanding that deductibility be introduced as soon as possible. We will no longer accept consoling promises”. On November 25, a number of representatives from Caritas, Diakonie, Hilfswerk, Licht für die Welt, the Red Cross, SOS Kindersdorf, Volkshilfe and Doctors Without Borders gathered in protest in front of the Parliament. Slovenia: “ensuring peace, stability, solidarity””The current financial crisis is evidence of the irreplaceable role of the ethical principles of honesty and justice, of responsibility and sensibility in financial business, especially in risky business”. This was stated by the Justice and Peace Commission of the Slovenian Bishops Conference (Ces), in a release signed by its president, mgr. Anton Stres, who recalled that one year ago, on the occasion of the World Day of Savings, he had already “drawn attention to the need for sound economic foundations, for savings and for a proper use of money”. Underlying the current situation, states the release, is the separation between the “financial flows and the real market and commonsense”, which is created to “immediately reap high profits”. The Commission states it appreciates “the efforts made by the governments and the institutions to reduce the consequences of the crisis, especially the pledges of the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union to fix the financial market”. In addition, he makes an appeal “to all the political, economic and financial institutions” to strengthen “the mechanisms that can prevent the situation getting any worse and to ensure peace, stability in society, solidarity in social bonds”.Switzerland: a more ethical financial system Swiss charity organizations “Fastenopfer” (“Lent Sacrifice”) and “Brot für alle” have requested an international code of behaviour as relates to development funding, along with the introduction of the Tobin tax. Given the upcoming UN Conference in Doha (Qatar), on November 25 the organizations issued a statement criticising the attitude held in Switzerland vis à vis the current financial crisis. “The fact that while South-America and Asia were hit by the financial crisis, our Country focused its attention on stock-market losses, is rather disconcerting. Furthermore” – they stigmatize – Industrialized Countries have been wasting time. Millions of people living in the South of the world, drawn into poverty by the crisis, were totally disregarded”. “The current financial crisis is different”, they remarked. “In this case the North reacted immediately and efficiently. In a short amount of time, the international community allocated some 3,000 billion Swiss Francs for the Banks bailout. This sum is 30 times higher than the sum that rich countries spend annually in development aids”. The organizations highlighted the occurrence of the UN Conference, in view of “creating a more equal international financial system” while condemning “the remarkable flight of capital from poor Countries”, a “consistent part of which flows into Swiss bank accounts”. Along with the introduction of an international code of behaviour, the organizations solicited the introduction of the Tobin Tax on foreign exchange, since a “minimum 0.005% rate would enable to collect 33 billion dollars. This money, added to the ordinary budget, could serve to finance the UN development objectives”.
