No pressing by the European Commission to increase the VAT rates lower. This was assured by Pier Carlo Padoan, minister of the Economy, speaking yesterday evening on the Porta a Porta broadcast. Not only that, the number one of the Treasury also specified that "the government's commitment is not to increase taxes" and that the 80 euro income tax bonus "will be made permanent, because it is financed by permanent spending cuts".
Padoan therefore denies the rumors about a possible increase in the value added tax. The rumors circulating in recent daysHowever, they did not speak of a tax increase tout-court, but of a redistribution of the tax burden from labor to consumption. The hypothesis was that the additional resources obtained from the VAT increase were used or for extend the bonus by 80 to categories that today are excluded (incompetents, pensioners and VAT numbers), or for cut the tax wedge, intervening for the benefit of workers (Irpef) and/or businesses (Irap).
On the other hand, some indications from Brussels in this sense have indeed arrived. The European Commission put pen to paper the recommendation to "further shift the tax burden towards consumption" with a "revision of reduced VAT rates and direct tax breaks".
Yesterday Padoan reiterated that his "dream" is to be able to "lower taxes to the limit that allows basic state expenses to be covered", but "we have enormous constraints and we must shrug them off with patience and tenacity". No commitment, therefore, on the possibility of a further cut in Irap as part of a new stability law ("we'll see"), which will be "very difficult" because the deterioration of the economy has made the constraints "tighter".
as to labor reform, “it's a priority”, continued the minister, but the objective is to “simplify” the market, therefore “article 18 becomes a non-problem. Today there are more than 40 contractual forms, we want to have only one or at most two contracts”. The reform should also include "wages linked to company levels and the revision of shock absorbers".
On the side of the GDP, after that OECD e Confindustria predicted a 2014 in recession, Padoan underlines that “the recovery will begin as early as next year”, even if it is true that “we are in bad shape and we are worse off than the European average. We have had negative numbers for three years but this year, I point out, the number is negative but much smaller”. Among the positive notes, the drop in the spread, which "this year should have produced a benefit of around 5 billion euro".
