Fiscal reform, Bank of Italy: “Indicate coverage”. Flat tax? “Unrealistic”

Even the Bank of Italy, after Confindustria, lays bare the delegation for the reform of the Italian tax system on the mother of the problems: the resources to finance it. Via Nazionale “recalls the need for the tax delegation to find the appropriate coverage. Many of the envisaged interventions will lead to revenue losses. At the moment, coverage is only envisaged for overcoming the IRAP through the new surcharge on IRES”, he says the Head of the Bank of Italy’s tax assistance and consultancy service, Giacomo Ricottihearing before the House Finance Committee.

According to Ricotti, “it is not clear which tax incentives will be the object of the rationalization, nor therefore the amount of resources that can be recovered”. And considering that the main constraint to the reforms in Italy derives “from the high weight of our public debt”, the need to achieve and maintain significant primary surpluses over time is imposed on each intervention, so that in the face of any reduction in revenue public adequate, structural and credible coverage must be identified“.

Considering that the ultimate objective of the tax reform, which passes first from the reduction of personal income tax rates and then to the final arrival at a flat tax generalized, for Ricotti “the model prefigured by fiscal delegation as the point of arrival – a single rate system together with a reduction in the tax burden – could be unrealistic for a country with a large welfare system, especially in light of the financial constraints publish”. In any case “the redistributive effects will have to be carefully evaluated”. Pending the introduction of the flat tax, the extension of the replacement regimes could reduce the fairness of the system.”

Via Nazionale, therefore, it would be better to set another primary objective: “It should be that of arrive at a different distribution of the total levy. From the point of view of fairness, this would mean reducing the levy on taxpayers in good standing by recovering resources with the fight against tax evasion”. And “with a view to stimulating economic growth, the tax burden should be shifted away from productive factors (labor and capital) income and consumption”.

The “father”, the deputy minister for the economy, also spoke of delegation in the morning Maurice Leo: “Our intention is to issue legislative decrees quickly. We will work immediately on organic and tax texts that will be included in a homogeneous body, without references or delegations to other regulations”. The goal, he explained in his speech at the Step Italia Congress, “to ground everything at the beginning of 2024”. According to Leo, “if everything goes as planned, we could have the delegation before the summer break and we will have the first measures of consolidated texts at the beginning of 2024. We must carry out the reform, ensuring the necessary coverage, without introducing measures that generate deficits, because it would have negative impacts on our public debt”. On international taxation, he added, the government wants “to create a much more friendly environment for subjects who want to come to Italy, whether they are natural persons or companies”.