In a moment of crisis like the current one, with the stock exchanges slipping negative signs one after the other and with our government bonds not keeping up with the German Bunds, encouraging messages are arriving from the insurance sector: in Italy the insurance companies are among the main institutional investors, they collect flows that are directed to long-term loans and therefore government and companies can access resources for investments and growth. This is the picture outlined by the general director of Ania, Paolo Garonna, after hearing the Senate Finance Committee on the delegation to the government for tax reform. The sector – he added – has ample development potential, but is penalized – he complained – by some fiscal policy decisions.
“Total insurance assets amount to over 500 billion, most of which invested in support of our businesses. Approximately 200 billion are invested in government bonds, of which 75% are Italian”, Garonna pointed out. “At the end of 2010, insurance companies collected 12% of the total financial savings of Italian households” and direct an important part of the savings flows “to typically long-term investments. Governments and companies can access essential resources to finance investments for growth and innovation”.
Garonna then underlined that compared to neighboring European countries, Italian insurance companies still have considerable development potential. But - he complained - "there are strong constraints on their growth", characterized by unfavorable fiscal policies that penalize the sector compared to foreign competitors. “Instead of encouraging investment in safety and prevention, Italian insurance companies are disadvantaged compared to their foreign competitors because corporate income taxes and those on premiums paid by policyholders are structurally higher in Italy. This discourages investment." In detail: "The life and non-life reserves have been subjected to a forced loan, which has no equal in other countries" and moreover, with the entry into force of federalism, "the tax on motor liability premiums has increased in many provinces . The IRAP rate was increased by two percentage points compared to that of the other companies”. And therefore "putting Italian insurers on an equal footing from the point of view of taxation with those of other countries can contribute significantly to the structural rebalancing of the tax system and, in this way, to the relaunch of the growth of the Italian economy".
Garonna therefore hoped for a rapid approval of the delegation, well before the deadline set for September next year, and that with it the rules governing contributions to supplementary pension schemes and supplementary health funds will also be subject to revision from a fiscal point of view . Because - explained the director general of ANIA - the delegation intervenes on taxation and assistance: "these are precisely the fronts that could allow us to quickly recover the credibility and trust of the financial markets in our ability to honor the commitments made with Europe and investors”. According to Ania, in particular, the contribution to supplementary pension schemes and supplementary health funds "should be further facilitated for the benefit of citizens and workers: any disincentive to resort to these forms of supplementary social security and assistance - said Garonna - would inevitably end to exert strong pressure on public spending”.
