From low growth to the lack of consolidation of public finances, up to the estimate according to which between 2017 and 2020 there will be a revenue gap of 13,7 billion euros. The Court of Auditors expresses various doubts on the latest stability law. In a document entitled "Public finance prospects after the stability law", already sent to the presidents of the Chambers, the accounting judiciary claims that 2014 billion in revenue will be at risk in 3, to which another 13,7 billion will be added between 2017 and 2020.
On the revenue side, the report states, the stability law “should produce an additional net levy of just over 2 billion in 2014 and around 4,7 billion in the three-year period 2014-2016. This is a final result which, in turn, derives from widespread tax increases (over 28,5 billion in the three-year period) not entirely offset by significant relief measures (approximately 24 billion). Therefore, the restrictive scope of the tax lever is confirmed, as well as its relevance in the pursuit of public finance equilibrium".
The judgment on the growth and public finance consolidation objectives indicated by the Government is also harsh: the Stability law "does not seem capable of significantly affecting growth prospects, nor of guaranteeing a solid and reassuring reduction profile of the public deficit . According to the report, the stability law confirms, even in its final version, the limited quantitative significance of the measures to stimulate the economy, while interventions of limited unit size are growing significantly, but such as to bring current expenditure back to a growth path ”.
The system seems “subject to contradictory impulses – continues the document -. Consistent spending cuts are envisaged, increasing in the two-year period 2015 and 2016, while spending will increase in the current year; the main destination of the proceeds of the 'expenditure review' to tax reductions is announced, without highlighting that a large part of the expected results are already mortgaged to avoid an increase in the levy”.
Lastly, the Court underlines that the absence of credit to the real economy is, among the "risks feared by the government, the one closest to materializing", and will continue in 2014.
