(Brussels) “Rules on Value Added Tax (VAT) are key to the operation of the single European market, but such rules should not be simplified to the detriment of the purposes of a fair, equal tax system”. This is, in a nutshell, the contribution made by the Commission of the EU Bishops Conferences (Comece) to the EU public consultation about the reform of VAT rates that ended on March 20^th. The consultation is part of the initiatives listed in the policy adopted by the European Commission for the establishment of a single European VAT area. The contribution that Comece submitted – and that can now be consulted on the website www.comece.eu – lists four recommendations: “focus on the needs of the poorer ones by applying reduced VAT rates for basic assets and services”; apply “reduced rates on services and assets for children, given that, “compared with childless or single-child families, large or single-parent families are more exposed to poverty”. It also asks to keep the Churches and non-profit organisations exempted from VAT, as their efforts “pursue the common good”. Lastly, in the run-up to the European Year of Cultural Heritage that will be celebrated in 2018, it asks to authorise “tax deductions for the restoration of churches and places of worship”.