Taxman, Ruffini (Revenue) replies to Salvini: “Fighting tax evasion is right, it’s not persecuting someone”
[ad_1]
“This must be clear: the fight against tax evasion is not the will to persecute someone. The Agency is a state administration, not a belligerent entity”. It’s hard not to read into the words of the director of the Revenue-Collection Agency, Ernesto Maria Ruffiniat the event “Let’s make Italy simple” an indirect response to the latest statements by the Minister of Transport and Deputy Prime Minister, the Northern League Matthew Salviniwho, launching the idea of a “great and definitive fiscal peace” in favor of “millions of Italians”, remarked that these would be “held hostage by the Revenue Agency for too many years”. Words that arrived a few weeks after the exit of the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who equated the recovery from the evasion of small traders to the “state lace”.
For Ruffini instead it is “a fact of justice towards all those who – and they are the vast majority – pay taxes, year after year, and have paid themalways down to the last penny, even at the cost of sacrifices and despite the undeniable high tax burden”, he added.
Salvini, the possessed of the amnesty
by Carlo Cottarelli
Ruffini’s speech sounds like a claim to his role as a servant of the state and of Hades. “We interpret ours every day with a profound sense of the State role in the service of the community”, he says and “we stand by the citizens who want to continue to have a correct relationship with the tax authorities and ensure full and loyal compliance with the tax rules by all”. And precisely in being at the side of those who pay taxes, Ruffini speaks of an “essential work for the functioning of the whole public machine, because if we want to guarantee the fundamental rights of the person indicated and protected in our Constitution – such as the health of citizens , the education of our children, the security of all of us – resources are needed and we are called to collect them for the benefit of all. Even of those who evade their payment “. And he remarks that the Agency’s action is not determined by it, but “in the ways and times that are always and only established by the legislator”. As if to say that even if someone were to complain of “oppression”, it is not among the tax officials who should go to look for the cause.
The measures
From the penal shield to folders. The thirteen amnesties of the Meloni government
by Rosaria Amato
Benefits for the state
“A fiscal peace for those who have made the declarations but have not managed to pay them all it is an advantage for the state which collects a tide of billions to be used for salaries and pensions and means one liberation for 15 million people“. Matteo Salvini reiterated this. “To date, there are 15 million Italians who have filed their income tax returns, but have an account opened with the Revenue Agency – he underlined -. I can’t think that a third of Italians, excluding minors, are people who have had a problem with the taxman, they weren’t able to pay everything they owed. They should be helped not condemned. Then the total tax evaders as far as I’m concerned go to jail”.
The need for tax reform
For the Minister of the Environment Gilberto Picchetto who spoke on the sidelines of the Utilitalia assembly: “Italy has the need to make a major tax reform, on this step it is necessary to intervene with facilitation mechanisms to close previous pending issues. It is something that must be evaluated and can be done. A pardon? It depends on the contents. Amnesty must mean an assessment of who is able to pay”. Beyond the political positions – observed Pichetto – the Our country has a huge problem due to a mass of rules and this has generated the need shared by all political forces to make a major tax reform; after all, our system dates from 1972-1973. Of course we have to give ourselves a modern system, 50 years have passed and only between circulars and regulations have “exceeded 100,000 interventions”. And he added: “This has also generated enormous difficulty on the part of the Italian tax system in collecting and pursuing evasion with a system that does not always distinguish between evasion and error, often penalizing those who make a mistake much more than those who he escaped”.
Twenty billion of evasion recovered
Among the issues raised, also the difficulties related to the available staff. One number above all: in 2012 the Revenue staff was 41,000 people, to drop with the turnover block to “less than 28,000 units as at 31 December 2022: we are talking about 13,000 fewer resources in ten years, on 30 percent,” the director remarked.
A lot has been done on the automation side in recent years. Ruffini claimed that “today the electronic channel is the main means” for tax services, that “checks from a collaborative and compliance perspective” have increased and that thanks to letters 3.2 billion have been recovered. And the anti-fraud activity is also proceeding, with another 9.5 billion recovered. Ultimately, explained Ruffini, “the results are proving us right, given that in 2022 we recovered the record figure of over 20 billion in tax evasion. The most important result ever and I would like to underline it with pride and gratitude for the work done by my colleagues”.
The taxman according to the right. Amnesty for the super rich and evaders out of necessity
by Giuseppe Colombo
Hiring is on the way: the workforce will rise to 37,000
A little breather can finally be seen on the horizon. “Finally – Ruffini said again – we can begin to look to the future with the prospect of a strengthened workforce, thanks to the extraordinary plan authorized by the Budget law which will allow us to count on around 11 thousand new resources by the end of 2024”. About 2,300 people joined in the first quarter, “other colleagues will come”. Oral tests are underway for 900 technical assistants, then the Revenue will launch competitions for:
- 4,000 officials for tax activities
- 500 officials for real estate advertising services
- 100 officials for logistics and procurement activities
- 50 IT officers
- 130 technical officers
- 80 experienced human resources officers.
In autumn 2024 another 3,000 tax officials will join and “the total number of employees will rise to around 37,000 in 2025, net of retirements. In short, we will begin to “breathe” and this will allow us to work with less difficulty and further improve the quality of services”.
Leo: change direction in assessment
The deputy minister of the MEF, Maurizio Leo, focused on the tax delegation, which begins its journey in the Senate today after the approval of the Chamber, reiterating the objective of “bringing the reform home before the summer break”. from the relationship with taxpayers. “It is understood that we need to change towards the assessment: today we have a tax gap that oscillates between 75 and 100 billion and is high, we have to fight it with other forms such as the arrangement with creditors, which does not mean letting our guard down . The fight against evasion must be done and we will do it in the most effective way possible, but we must do it with new means”, he said. And again: “We must do the fight against evasion and we will do it in the most effective way possible, but with new tools and with the technology at our disposal”.
[ad_2]
Source link
