Rivisitando Vanoni con Forte

The paper emphasises some of the characteristics of Ezio Vanoni as academic and politician. These traits were revealed in his public life dedicated to transforming his convictions about financial science and tax laws into actions by the government – a reformist government. With particular attention to the 1951 tax reform that traditionally bears his name, we dwell upon some connotations peculiar to his personality: social sensitivity (his respectful attention to the citizen and his/her needs), realism ( from which derive his gradualism and aversion to dogmatic application of reforms), and finally rigorousness (connected with his giving priority to the organisational aspects of tax administration). To illustrate the above connotations we refer particularly to Vanoni’s writings and his political speeches, especially those made during tax reform debates. From the latter can be seen how uncomfortable Vanoni was when he had to counter positions of prejudice based solely on political grounds. He was convinced that every speech in such debates should be based strictly on technical knowledge of the problem involved. From the material analysed, we likewise see the strong pedagogical direction Vanoni gave to a modern tax system, as a structure essential for determining correct relations between social life, the institutions and taxpayer self-determination, in view of “common well-being”. Finally we show that Vanoni’s traits as scholar and tax reformer are those identified with him as a Catholic thinker (particularly in connection with the Camaldoli Code, of which he was one of the writers most involved) and economic planner (specially referring to the ten year development plan which, like the 1951 tax reform, is known by the name Vanoni).