Vatican hosts international dialogue on tax reform

By Joseph Tulloch

Dozens of officials from national governments and international organisations gathered in the Vatican on Thursday for a high-level dialogue on ‘Tax Justice and Solidarity’.

The conference, which was organised by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PASS), explored the ways in which today’s international tax system fuels global inequality.

Sr Helen Alford speaks at a PASS conference in 2023

The Church’s ‘guiding’ role in economic reform

Tax reform is “crucial”, Sr Helen Alford, President of PASS, told Vatican News.

The current international tax system is more than a hundred years old, she stressed, and “really isn’t able to deal” with today’s hyper-globalised world. This allows multinational corporations and ultra-wealthy individuals to pay very low rates of tax, in turn depriving governments of crucial resources.   

Sr Alford stressed the role that the Church can play in combatting the problem. Dozens of government and international officials had gathered in the Vatican for the high-level dialogue, she said, because they recognise “the crucial guiding role” that the Church and, in particular, Pope Francis, play in today’s world.

Leaders recognise his ability to speak not only to the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, Sr Alford said, “but way beyond that, too”, with the Pope recognised as a moral authority by many outside the Church.

Moreover, Sr Alford said, problems at the UN and other multilateral organisations mean that a venue like PASS has increased value, offering the chance for government officials and world leaders to discuss “ideas that would be very difficult for them to talk about anywhere else”.

Tax reform and Jubilee

Among the participants in the dialogue was Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and PASS Honorary Academician.

Speaking to Vatican News, he praised the Church for its “moral leadership” on the issue of tax reform, noting that the dialogue came in the context of a 2025 Jubilee Year dedicated to “justice and equality”.

“We need tax justice”, he said.

It is only if billionaires and wealthy corporations pay their fair share of taxes, Stiglitz stressed, that there can be a “movement to greater equality” and “a restoration of trust in our system”.

The fight against HIV and AIDS

On the sidelines of the conference, Vatican News also got a chance to speak to Winnie Byanyima, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

Byanyima said that the organisation aims to eliminate the illness by 2030, a goal which is achievable due to the “strong support” the programme has received from rich countries. However, she said, the recent decline in financial assistance from those countries – in particular, the US government’s choice to freeze nearly all foreign aid – threaten to derail this attempt.

The US funds 73% of UNAIDS’ work, Byanyima said, and although it has so far not withdrawn its funding, there is still “a lot of confusion” about what assistance will be provided in the future. The UNAIDS director stressed the need for an “orderly” shift to the US’ new foreign aid policy: “It can't be right to drop the ball when people's lives depend on the medication they get every single day.”

Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, speaks to Vatican News

Byanyima also highlighted the crucial role that faith-based organisations can play in the fight against AIDS and HIV. Firstly, she said, they can urge “global solidarity”, encouraging the US to continue to support the struggle against the disease, and European countries to contribute more.

Religious institutions, Byanyima added, can also fight against the stigma surrounding those who suffer from HIV/AIDS – which, she emphasised, is one of the main reasons why many are still not receiving treatment.

The UNAIDS director brought the interview to a close by commending Pope Francis and the Holy See for “framing the question of tax injustice as a moral issue, not just an economic one.” It is tax reform, she said – along with the restructuring of international debt – that “will deliver the resources needed” to combat HIV and AIDS.