Prodi's appeal to Church on tax evasion

Tax evasion has recently become the centre of a heated controversy in neighbouring Italy. The topic has always been on the country's political agenda and from time to time surfaces in the media especially when a "scandal" involving some top personality is involved.

However, what has caused the rumpus this time was not the reporting of some such story. The storm broke out after Prime Minister Romano Prodi appealed to the Church to help his government in its efforts to curb rampant tax evasion.

In an interview with the Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana, Mr Prodi categorically stated that to curb this national phenomenon everybody must play their part, including teachers and priests. The prime minister complained that when he goes to Mass on Sundays (he is a practising Catholic) he rarely, if ever, hears priests tackling the issue in their homilies. He did not mince his words and stated that tax evasion is also a moral issue and hence priests should emphasise this from the pulpits. He said that one third of Italians "heavily evade taxes".

Mr Prodi's comments sound reasonable enough. The Church has always taught that it is one's moral duty to pay one's dues to the State just as the State is morally bound to ensure that wealth is equitably distributed among its citizens, beginning with those most in need. However, rather surprisingly, Mr Prodi's comments provoked a storm of protests even from quarters which one would have thought agreed with him.

Former Christian Democratic leader Senator Giulio Andreotti, also a practising Catholic, was reported to have said that "the Church isn't concerned with taxation". A member of the Radical Party told Mr Prodi that instead of telling priests what to do, he "should simply lower taxes." Another, this time a Christian Democrat, incredibly said that Prodi's suggestions violated the principle of separation of Church and State.

What is rather more surprising, however, is the reported reaction of members of the clergy. The well-known Cardinal Ersilio Tonini, while agreeing that the exhortation to pay taxes is part of the Church's teachings, added that "fiscal duties were not part of the Church's primary teaching because other questions have priority'."

Another prominent Italian cleric was reported to have said that he agreed in principle with Mr Prodi's remarks but insisted that that the Church has not ignored the issue. Rather, he stated, the Church has been concerned about the subject. "Payment of taxes is an obligation that is the civil responsibility of everyone".

The most jarring comment came from a priest who is a close friend and collaborator of Silvio Berlusconi's. He was reported to have said, in reaction to Mr Prodi's appeal, that "evading taxes was not a sin and can even been seen as 'self-defence'!"

The Church in Italy, as in almost all Catholic or so-called Catholic countries, often finds itself in difficult situations. Nobody says anything when she speaks on strictly religious matters, even though some would call her fundamentalist. But when these topics have a social as well as a moral dimension like divorce, abortion, or same-sex unions, then those against the Church's teachings accuse her of interfering in state matters which, they claim, is unacceptable in a free and democratic state.

Mr Prodi was of course justified in appealing to the Church to speak out about tax evasion. However when the same Church instructed Italian Catholics not to vote in a referendum about relaxing restrictions on the country's fertility laws, he did not hesitate to attack the Italian bishops' directive and stated that he would ignore the call and vote because, he was reported to have said, "he was a grown-up Catholic".

Yes Catholics, convinced Catholics, should always be "grown-up" and abide by the teachings of the Church whether this concerns taxation, just wages, doing one's duty, social benefits, abortion, euthanasia, divorce or same-sex unions.