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Questo articolo è stato pubblicato il 19 gennaio 2013 alle ore 09:39.
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«I don't want to be a Robespierre or a Saint-Just: I don't believe in the wealth tax, we already have it on our houses, it's called Imu (property tax). We want to work on this, making it progressive in support of those in greatest difficulty». These are the words of centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, who yesterday put back in the frame of the political campaign the issue of taxation.
A sensitive issue with the electorate because of the current very high levels, a record in Europe with a total tax rate for corporates of 65%. In the past the wealth tax was a traditional favourite topic for the left. Not anymore for the centre-left. Now it is considered an opportunity by the leader of Sel (Sinistra Ecologia Libertà) Nichi Vendola, who would like to apply it to financial speculation. At the same time the leader of Rivoluzione Civile, Antonio Ingroia would like use it on those with the highest incomes.
The wealth tax is a potential banana skin and so the debate on taxation up until now has been focused mainly on Imu (Imposta Municipale Unica), the housing taxation introduced by Monti on all properties, even the first home, but conceived by Giulio Tremonti (the Finance Minister in the previous government) only from the second house onwards. This taxation meant that in 2012 the state was able to put almost 24 billion euros into the coffers. Today however even Mario Monti, leader of the centre thinks that this tax has to be re-considered. Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the centre-right party, goes further and says that in his opinion this tax needs to be removed completely and replaced with an increase of taxation on alcohol, tobacco and gaming. Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of Pd (Partito Democratico) suggests that Imu should be applied on a sliding scale, at its highest level to properties valued over 1.5 million euros, coming down to zero for properties valued at the lower end of the scale, for households that pay up to 400-500 euros. Property taxes are a sensitive issue as about 80 percent of Italian families own the house they live in.
The fiscal programmes of all parties are aimed at one thing, and that is to convince voters that their plans will enhance economic growth, competitiveness and productivity while at the same time relaxing the weight of taxation on both companies and employees: this is the so called "cuneo fiscale", which is the difference between the costs to the company and employees net earnings, and which is currently at a level of 53% including local taxation. The Pdl (Popolo delle Libertà) aims to cut the Irap tax (Imposta Regionale Attività Produttiva) in an attempt to reduce the impact of the "cuneo". The Pd for its part wants to grant tax incentives to those who provide jobs. Monti himself has promised to reduce taxes on salaries between 2013-2015, with a grant of 2 billion euros.
The trick of course is how to do all this while keeping public spending under control and, at the same time, while meeting Eu expectations. The centre-left aims to take a stand against tax evasion, which as history shows is a long and winding road with no guarantee of success. The centre-right is at the same time pushing to reduce public expenditure, which is without doubt a necessity, but in past years has not been done anywhere near effectively enough.
(Traduzione di James Tierney)
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