No pardons, nor tax shields in sight. They would only be "one-off" interventions to raise cash, but "they would not change the public finance structure". These are the words used by Giulio Tremonti in the Senate Budget Committee. Furthermore in the maneuver there would be no imbalance between new taxes and spending cuts. Indeed, "the proportion initially envisaged is maintained and confirmed", because "the solidarity contribution is replaced by purely fiscal measures". As for the possibility of an agreement with Switzerland, following the example of what was done by Germany and Great Britain, to regularize the situation of capital abroad, the superminister let it be known that "the Italian position has always been to respect the regulatory framework of the European Union and to proceed in harmony with the provisions of the other European partners".
But the European partners are far from satisfied with this manoeuvre. At least those in Brussels. “We are concerned to see over-reliance on measures on the fight against tax evasion, the impact of which is difficult to quantify,” said Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman for EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn today.
Much more positive signals from Germany. Another spokesman, this time for Chancellor Angela Merkel, underlined how the Berlin government has "full confidence" in the fact that Italy, despite the change in the maneuver, "will approve the measures necessary to respect the planned savings to achieve the effects expected on the public budget".
A rejection of the new financial instead comes from Confindustria. “We are disconcerted by the measures to combat tax evasion envisaged in the amendment presented by the Government – reads a harsh press release from Viale dell'Atronomia – The measures presented yesterday are affected by the haste and approximation with which the amendment, are not coherent even on a technical level and will necessarily have to be revised". The solutions proposed are in fact "not very effective in terms of the objective of a serious fight against tax evasion and risk penalizing companies that are correct in dealing with the tax authorities".
