Deliverance 1: Tax Avoidance and Evasion

The deliverances from the National Youth Assembly 2012 are finally finished and will be posted in three separate posts. You can find deliverances from past NYAs over on the right hand side of this blog. Deliverances from this year will eventually be linked across there so that they are easily accessible. For now, here is the first deliverance which covers the issues of unfair tax avoidance and evasion. The Youth Assembly were grateful for the debate input from Christian Aid. This deliverance only covers some of what was said during the debate. The NYA have elected 20 youth reps to represent the NYA throughout the year to carry out some of the work mentioned in these statements.

National Youth Assembly 11^th August 2012

Tax Evasion and Avoidance

The National Youth Assembly:

recognises that generosity is a spiritual gift. Delegates challenge individuals to pay taxes with a spirit of generosity and in full transparency.
challenges individuals to pay taxes to a full extent with transparency willingly as a moral and legal responsibility.
seeks to approach issues of Church and society with an attitude of positive transformation. The NYA will encourage a “We can” spirit, not just a “We need to” spirit.
believes that openness leads to understanding and that the issue of taxes and finance need to be discussed in public without using jargon, in an accessible way in a conversation led by the Church of Scotland.
believes that there is an absence of adequate financial education in the school curriculum and urges the government to address this.
commends to the wider Church the Christian Aid campaigns on tax evasion and unfair avoidance[1] as well as the joint 2010 report of the Church of Scotland and Christian Aid.[2]
encourages congregations to engage with Christian Aid campaigns and education resources in regard to tax justice and to consider an annual awareness raising event similar to “Souper Sunday”.
encourages the Church and Society Council to continue to be vocal and active on issues surrounding the scandal of tax evasion and unfair avoidance, and more fundamentally, the culture surrounding it.
commits to bringing issues of tax evasion and unfair avoidance to the Scottish Youth Parliament.
encourages congregations to consider boycotting companies who avoid tax unfairly and to campaign on this issue.
believes it is imperative that the Church of Scotland and its members work towards investing and banking only with corporations whose investments are ethical.
notes the importance of taking a global approach to tackling tax evasion and unfair avoidance and encourages the Church of Scotland to work with other churches and ecumenical bodies on this issue.
commends the work of Christian Aid in regard to transparency within trade.
affirms the work the Church already does in relation to fair trade and commits further to promoting it including using fairly traded products in all churches.
believes tax incentives should be offered on ethical products.
instructs the elected youth reps to research and compile existing information and resources and to prepare and make available to the COSY family an “Idiot’s Guide to Living Ethically”.