Perhaps because everyone is taken to follow the tragicomic events of the League, few newspapers have given due weight to the real bombshell proposal launched yesterday in an interview with Corriere da Angelino Alfano. The secretary of the PDL said that in his opinion the Imu must be an extraordinary tax and valid only for this year and that everything must be done to avoid the increases in VAT rates already scheduled for September. But not even a word was spent by Alfano to indicate how to maintain the objective of balanced public finances, which is also essential not only for the commitments made at the European level, but to reassure the markets on the containment of our enormous public debt.
This sortie proves once again that parties seek easy popularity with demagogic and unrealistic proposals which, passed off as fair and compassionate towards the sacrifices asked of citizens, actually end up exacerbating the country's ailments by condemning it to a long depression, as it has been for the past 15 or 20 years. None of the amendments proposed by the parties in Parliament on Monti's decrees, such as the one on liberalisations, went in the direction of strengthening market opening measures, but on the contrary always moved to try to reduce the impact on individual interest groups whose position annuities are affected by more competitive structures. It was the same for labor market reform where, together with the unions, a compromise was sought that would allow the old guarantees to be safeguarded as much as possible for those (increasingly fewer) who are inside the fort of permanent employees. If we then look at the proposals that are put forward by many to stimulate growth, which would certainly be needed, we see that they never go beyond the invocation of higher public spending or lower taxation, without ever saying, however, where should one go to get the money to do these things which would also be desirable.
Someone puts forward the hypothesis of setting up a property law to be able to reduce taxes on the lowest incomes a little, without considering that theIMU it is already a balance sheet as are the new taxes on securities deposits which, moreover, are already suffering from the fall in stock market prices. The truth is that by now there is only one way that could soon provide the resources needed to lower taxes on labor income and businesses so as to support both domestic demand for consumption and investment: and that is to make drastic cuts in public spending by reducing not only the expenses of the ministries, but those of local authorities and the forest of entities that revolve around the public sector. But no party has made proposals in this direction in recent months. It clearly emerges that the political system as a whole defends the spaces of power occupied by its apparatuses and its clientele.
The League itself overwhelmed by the scandal of the misuse of electoral reimbursements it has always fought to preserve the provinces and above all to avoid the privatization of the numerous local public service companies controlled by its men. This is the real betrayal of the promises made to the citizens of the North who wanted less bureaucracy and lower taxes. Other than the expenses of the Trout!
Il Monti government he must beware of the embrace of the parties which formally support him, but which in reality are only looking for miraculous formulas to be able to continue doing what they have always done, that is, distributing money and seats to their customers. Reducing public funding to parties is only one aspect, and not even the most important, of the overall work that needs to be done to reduce the role of the state in the economy and the occupation of all institutions by parties. In this Emma Bonino is profoundly right who, alone, draws attention to the deleterious effects of the subdivision that pervades all public institutions, from Rai to the local health authorities.
The reduction of public expenditure passes through a redesign of the autonomies (elimination of the provinces and unification of the municipalities), through the drastic cut of the subsidies showered on this or that productive sector, through rigid ceilings on the expenditure for the purchase of goods and services which amount to 130 billion a year and on which obtaining a 10% reduction would be a joke for any good manager called upon to restore a company in difficulty, and finally for a comprehensive review of public administration simplifying procedures and cutting out unnecessary offices or time-wasting duplications. If we add to this a more efficient fight against tax evasion (which seems to be actually taking place) we could have adequate resources both to reduce taxes and to finance those public works whose lack creates serious diseconomies for our businesses.
Il minister Giarda he has been working for months to finalize the spending review mechanisms that should lead to these spending reductions. Technically this is a complex exercise, however the biggest obstacle to swift implementation of spending cuts appears to be political. It is the parties that would be most affected by the reduction of so many sub-government posts and by the power that derives from the giving of gifts and the awarding of contracts. Now the bill on fiscal reorganization currently under discussion in the Senate offers an opportunity to clarify the positions of all parties, going beyond purely propaganda statements.
All attention is now focused on the reform of public funding to parties and on their renunciation of the 100 million that they should collect by June. But this is only a small part of the problem. It is necessary for Monti, albeit in calm tones and without wars of religion, to challenge the parties on spending cuts and on the reduction of the public apparatus. Hopes for the recovery of the country and the reopening of real growth prospects pass through a real reduction in public spending. Only if there is a clear and courageous approach to this issue on the part of the Government will it be possible to obtain greater awareness on the part of public opinion (currently bewildered by the easy promises of those who try to make people forget their responsibilities) about who really wants to change march to this country and who just wants to plug the major holes in the hope of being able to continue to administer in the same way as before, the way that led us to the current crisis.
