Pope Francis on Monday defended progressive taxation and a “fiscal pact” in the context of the election campaign in Italy, where right-wing leaders Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi advocate a flat tax, writes AFP.

Welcoming entrepreneurs from the main employers’ confederation, Confindustria, at the Vatican, the Pope stressed the need to share wealth with those who do not have access to it.

A form of sharing that is “very important in today’s world and in democracies is tax,” but is “often misunderstood,” he told 5,000 entrepreneurs and their families.

“The fiscal pact is the basis of the social pact. Taxes are also a way of distributing wealth so that it can be turned into common and public goods: education, health care, rights, care, science, culture, heritage,” he said. , the Pope continued.

“Taxes must be fair, just, set according to everyone’s ability to pay, as required by the Italian constitution,” the Pope said as Salvini and Berlusconi made the flat tax one of their main battlegrounds in the Sept. 25 election.

The Pope, who regularly advocates fairer access to wealth, did not mention the political situation in Italy ahead of the vote and did not name anyone.

In Italy, where tax evasion is estimated at around 100 billion euros per year, the Constitution states that “all (citizens) are obliged to contribute to public expenditure according to their ability to contribute” and that the tax system must respect “criteria of progressivity “. .

But Salvini does not miss the opportunity to present the flat rate of 15% as a miracle tool to reduce tax evasion and stimulate the economy of the peninsula, while Berlusconi would prefer it to be 23%.

Its opponents say the flat rate is highly inequitable and reduces government tax revenue.

In his speech before the Pope’s address, the head of Confindustria, Carlo Bonomi, did not talk about taxes, but about issues dear to Pope Francis, such as the demographic decline of an aging Italy, unemployment among young people and the difficulty for women to combine work and family life.

He also called for a “cultural revolution” to “better integrate foreigners” and facilitate their access to “full citizenship.” “Not only to eradicate prejudice and social hatred, but also because a demographic curve like the Italian one makes an effective model of integration even more necessary,” emphasized Carlo Bonomi.

He condemned “finance for finance’s sake” which denies “the original dignity of every woman and every man” and in which “the laws of economics betray their fundamental meaning and value.”

In the midst of the election campaign, he called on the “liberal societies of the West” to resist “nationalist sirens”, “under the blows of the pandemic, the crisis in Ukraine and the consequences of rising energy prices.”