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Financial Reform Advocates Call on the Senate to Close Expensive Tax Loopholes January 16th, 2014

The Oblate JPIC Office joined others in the FACT Coalition in signing a letter sent this morning to Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, on proposed international tax reform. The group said a proposal before the Committee “rightly identifies the need to stop corporations from shifting profits to offshore tax havens to avoid taxes. Unfortunately, the proposal falls short in three critical ways and leaves room for the offshoring of jobs and profits to continue:”

1. “It does not sufficiently end incentives for multinational corporations to shift profits offshore, which costs taxpayers an estimated $90 billion per year and creates an uneven playing field for small and domestic businesses.”

2. “It is revenue neutral, earmarking all the revenue raised from closing loopholes for reductions in the corporate tax rate. With federal revenue from corporations hovering at multigenerational lows, precisely because of the offshore profit shifting incentives, this is unacceptable.”

3. “It should hold corporations accountable to report their profits and revenues in a consistent manner to government, shareholders and the public.”

In arguing for doing away with lucrative corporate tax loopholes, the reform-minded groups argue that “Corporations benefit from the operation of government just as individuals do (and more so in some cases due to myriad tax benefits and lucrative contracts) and should be expected to contribute to financing our democracy, public services and rule of law. However the corporate share of federal revenue was just eight percent in 2011, having declined by more than 60 percent in the last 50 years.”

“Due to huge loopholes and other factors, dozens of big corporations pay no federal income taxes, while reaping billions of dollars in profits. According to the Government Accountability Office, corporations pay just a 12.6 percent effective tax rate, far below the statutory rate of 35%.”

Learn more, read the letter to Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (Download PDF)

Death Penalty Resources for Communities of Faith January 16th, 2014

At the start of the New Year, we would like to remind everyone of the excellent free educational resources on the death penalty available from the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty (CMN). The ready-for-use resources on the death penalty are helpful for anyone interested in learning more about the faith response to the death penalty.

CMN materials are available on the website and are downloadable. Many of these resources are also available in Spanish.

Learn more about the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty:

The Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty (CMN) is a lay ministry of the institutional U.S. Catholic Church that educates Catholics to seek a faithful response to crime, with a focus on abolishing the death penalty in the U.S. and promoting restorative justice. CMN works as a national lay collaborative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and state Catholic conferences. CMN has since developed partnerships with Catholic lay leaders, diocesan staff and secular organizations in the movement.

More information is available elsewhere on our website.

Understanding Fracking: Catholic News Service series January 6th, 2014

Dennis Sadowski, staff writer for Catholic News Service, has completed a series of articles on hydraulic fracking from a faith-based perspective. “It was a complicated issue to examine,” he informed Catholic Rural Life. Nevertheless, Sadowski provides a clear overview of this controversial energy source while blending in environmental justice teachings of the Church.

The Oblate JPIC Office has been engaging oil and gas companies on social and environmental issues related to fracking.

The six articles of the Catholic News Service series can be found via links posted on the Catholic Rural Life website.

Thanks to National Catholic Rural Life for this information.

Pope Francis Issues World Day of Peace Message January 6th, 2014

“Fraternity, the Foundation and Pathway to Peace” is the 2014 message of Pope Francis, which is also his first for the annual World Day of Peace, Jan. 1.

In the Peace message, Pope Francis offers his best wishes for a life filled with joy and hope. “In the heart of every man and woman is the desire for a full life,” he says, “including that irrepressible longing for fraternity which draws us to fellowship with others and enables us to see them not as enemies or rivals, but as brothers and sisters to be accepted and embraced.”

Read the Pope’s Message (Open PDF)