Economy
(From New York) “Congress must take action now and correct these basically flawed tax policies”. This was said by bishop Frank J. Dewane, president of the Commission for Justice and Human Development of the US Bishops Conference, after the US Senate’s decision to launch the tax reform legislation on December 2nd. While waiting for the House of Representatives and the Senate to agree on one single reform plan, monsignor Dewane highlights “the flaws found in both laws” and asks that “political solutions that help people and families be chosen”. In addition, the bishop hoped in an in-depth review of the “requisite improvements before a final agreement is reached”, so as to give priority to people in need. “The moral considerations sent to Congress in two letters on November 9th and 22nd should be kept into account”, he went on. The letters sent to the Members of the House of Representatives and of the Senate contained five points that the US pastors defined as essential and that mainly concern poor people and cuts on healthcare expense, the families “that bear remarkable costs”; the progressive rise in tax for the middle classes and the cuts on taxes for billionaires; the increase in the state deficit and the repeal of quite a lot of anti-poverty programmes, and lastly tax relief for charitable donations. The bishops only praise the protection of 529 projects in support of new lives, but, as to the rest of the reform, they keep insisting that the House and the Senate should change their minds and look into the details of the law, inspired by the principle of the common good and care for the poor, as suggested by Pope Francis on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, because “indifference and omission” are an obvious risk in this new, controversial legislation.
