measures “in line”, but rejection for pensions, cash and Post-Corriere.it

The Meloni government’s maneuver “overall in line” for the EU Commission with the Council’s recommendations, but the pension reform, the raising of the cash ceiling and the 60 euro Pos do not respect the envisaged road map, especially in the fight against ‘evasion. The EU rejection of these measures is not exactly a bolt from the blue. The problem once again is tax evasion, one of the scourges afflicting our country. And in fact, as the Commission writes in its Opinion on the Italian Dbp, some measures are not in line with the specific recommendations for Italy on the fight against tax evasion. However, this does not affect the satisfaction of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who finds confirmation of the goodness of the work of the Italian government in the Commission’s positive assessment, while underlining the solidity of the economic maneuver and reaffirming the vision of development and growth that guides it.

Minister Giorgetti rejoices

The Minister of Economy and Finance also rejoices, Giancarlo Giorgetti, who speaks of great satisfaction. The EU Commission has promoted our maneuver judging it “in line”, explains the minister in a note. Italy is therefore included in half of the European countries that are on the right side. According to Giorgetti, the Commission document confirms that the government has belied the national owls: seriousness and responsibility pay off and will continue to be the basis of all our decisions. Also EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni from Strasbourg confirms that the overall positive opinion on Italy’s economic maneuverbut he too cannot fail to point out that some critical remarks have been made.

The nodes highlighted by the Commission

Specifically, the Commission points the finger at the provision that raises the ceiling for cash transactions from 2 to 5 thousand euros starting from 2023; on the measure (defined as equivalent to an amnesty) which provides for the cancellation of tax debts of less than 1,000 euros for the years between 2000 and 2015; on the 60 euro limit for refusing pos payments without receiving any sanctions; and, finally, on the renewal, with stricter age criteria, in 2023 of the early retirement schemes that expired at the end of 2022. On a structural level, Paolo Gentiloni underlines that there is an invitation to proceed on the tax reform and on individual measures there are findings on measures related to digital payments and tax evasion.

The findings focus on measures not in line with the recommendations addressed to Italy in recent years on the issue of the fight against tax evasion, the sanctions on the impossibility of making digital payments, on prudence in pension spending and on the importance of gradually proceeding with a tax reform that would lighten taxation on labour. The draft enabling law, presented by the government in October 2021, outlined the key principles for a general reform of the tax system with several structural changes such as the revision of personal and corporate taxes, including the phasing out of the activity tax production, the reform of cadastral values, the rationalization of VAT rates and tax bases and a review of environmental taxes. However – concludes the Commission -, the enabling law was not approved by Parliament.

July recommendations

In July, the Council recommended that Italy, in order to further reduce taxes on labor and increase the efficiency of the system, adopt and properly implement the enabling law on tax reform, in particular by revising the effective marginal rates, aligning cadastral values ​​to current market values, rationalizing and reducing tax expenditure, including VAT, and environmentally harmful subsidies, while ensuring fairness, and reducing the complexity of the tax code. On sales – explained the EU commissioner for the economy Paolo Gentiloni – the bill complies with the recommendations of the Council in July, essentially to keep current expenditure under control, in a period characterized by high inflation and tight monetary policy. This recommendation – he continues – has been implemented by the government, as have most of the high-debt countries, with some exceptions.