Church outlines vision for a moral economy

The Church of Scotland has published a 47-page report outlining its vision for an economy underpinned by a moral vision.

The report, ‘A Right Relationship with Money’, makes the case that good economic practice is embedded in social relationships.

It argues that the economy has existed for the markets instead of people, and that a failure to control the “invisible hand” of the markets will leave the vulnerable trapped at the bottom of the chain.

The report is based on two years of interviews by the Kirk’s Special Commission on the Purposes of Economic Activity with people who have experienced financial hardship and poverty.

Former Chancellor Alastair Darling and representatives of the credit industry were among those who gave evidence to the commission, which was led by Professor Charles Munn and included theologians, anti-poverty campaigners, economists and politicians.

At the heart of economic considerations, the report states, should be reducing inequality, ensuring sustainability, promoting mutuality, ending global poverty.

One area of special concern highlighted by the report is the spread of tax havens around the world. The commission recommends that the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland instruct its committees and agencies to ask companies that provide them with goods and services over the value of £100,000 to disclose the extent to which they use tax havens to minimise the amount of tax they pay.

The General Assembly, which meets next month, is also being called upon to support the minimum wage. Kirk agencies and congregations are being asked to make the living wage a condition for awarding contracts for goods and services over the value of £100,000.

Credit card companies also came under fire from the commission for failing to pass on the benefit of low interest rates to consumers and for widening their margins in order to build their balance sheets. The commission recommends the introduction of a legally binding maximum interest rate on consumer credit to be set at 40 per cent. It suggested this would offer a degree of protection for the most hard pressed.