The Pd's countermaneuver is ready. Bersani will illustrate its contents in the early afternoon but has already anticipated a summary in an interview: “First: a shock therapy against tax evasion. We will propose the use of seven or eight lock picks which, if used, can help begin to win the battle. Second: a tax on significant real estate assets. Third: a drastic downsizing of public administration, institutions and the cost of politics. Fourth: a solidarity contribution that finally weighs not on the taxed but on the condoned. To this we add liberalisations, reasonable disposals of public assets, and a little industrial policy and support for the economy”.
Yesterday evening the senators of the Pd group met with the secretary, precisely to focus on the details. “Our proposals will translate into a series of amendments – explains the Pd group leader in the Budget Committee, Vidmer Mercatali – We are already preparing them: they will not be many, but significant: thirty, at most fifty”.
But Mercatali is under no illusions: he says he is convinced that “in the end the Government will put their trust, as always, “because – he explains – the divisions within the majority are not resolved. Indeed, the more the discussion remains open, the more there is a new one between them every day. VAT, property assets, pensions... Of course, if our suggestions were accepted, it would be a great revolution: deciding that those who have not paid up to now will be charged and intervening in the country's growth means once again giving hope to young people and businesses. In my city, Ravenna, which is not a large centre, there are 1.300 people who declare an income of more than 90 euros, and 50% of the cars have an engine capacity of more than 2.000 cc. Intervening in these situations, charging the right amount, would also be a signal to those workers who are asked to retire later".
E about pensions, Mercatali recalls that “we've already got our hands on it three times. Does the government only think about this?”. On this point, Bersani was clear in this morning's interview: “It's time to stop trying to get money out of there, to cover the hole in the day, so as not to take it away from the tax evaders or those who are always on the run. It's unbearable. However, if we want to talk about the evolution of the pension system in favor of young people, remember that we are the first to have implemented the reform. So I'm for discussion. We have always said that for us the implementation of the system consists in identifying a range of years in which there is flexibility in terms of exit mechanisms based on convenience. Let's talk about. What I don't accept is that to fill the hole in local authorities, they want to touch pensions: they charge the condoned and put a tax on relevant assets. If they don't know how to do it, we'll explain it to them".
