“I'm not consoled by the fact that the times prove me right in retrospect, because what matters is not so much that I was right about the fight against tax evasion but that they – the Berlusconi government, Tremonti and their lackeys – were and are dead wrong. It was obvious that it would end like this but Tremonti's blitz on the hunt for tax evaders is only a sign of desperation and is as improvised as it is incomplete". Vincenzo Visco, the Minister of Economy in the Prodi government and favorite target of the last electoral campaign of the centre-right who came to define him as the Dracula of the taxman, is savoring his revenge in the last remnants of his vacation but does not enjoy it. Yesterday Silvio Berlusconi, furious about Tremonti's amendments on the fight against tax evasion, sanctified it in some way: “Not even Visco – thundered the prime minister – would have dared so much. Here we are at real socialism”. And the storm, inside and outside the center-right, is all too predictable. But here is what former minister Visco declared to FIRSTONLINE, in his first comment on yesterday's government measures on tax evasion.
FIRSTONLINE – The times seem to prove her right: how do you judge Tremonti's latest move on tax evasion with recourse to prison for over 3 million evasion, the possibility for Municipalities to publish tax returns on the Internet and with bank current accounts that enters the 730?
VISCO – It seems to me that Tremonti's is only the sign of desperation. It was quite obvious that it would end like this and that the problem of the fight against tax evasion would arise again. Only the gullibility of some could turn a blind eye and imagine that there was no gigantic problem of tax evasion in Italy. However, being right in retrospect doesn't comfort me, also because it's not the first time this has happened to me: it has happened to me often in my life.
FIRSTONLINE - Why doesn't the revenge, even posthumous, cheer you up?
VISCO – Because I always have the situation and general interests of the country in mind. It's not so important that I was right but the serious fact for the country is that they – the Berlusconi government, Tremonti and their lackeys – were and are dead wrong.
FIRSTONLINE – But now the Government seems to be repenting to the point of unleashing furious controversies in the fight against tax evasion: don't you think it's a step forward?
VISCO – From a first reading of Tremonti's amendments, I don't think I see any real fiscal traceability. There is still a lack of measures that bring to light and prevent the thousand possibilities of evasion that are hidden in the relationships between companies and their customers and suppliers. And do you know why these measures are not there?
FIRSTONLINE - Please.
VISCO – For an elementary reason: because they would disturb the centre-right electorate, the PDL as well as the Lega.
FIRSTONLINE – If I understand correctly, you mean that the problem of fighting tax evasion is not only technical but above all political.
VISCO – Exactly: there is an obvious political problem and it really doesn't seem to me that this government has the strength and the will to really tackle it.
FIRSTONLINE – Doesn't that seem a bit too prejudicial to you?
VISCO – I look at the facts and the line of fight against tax evasion that emerges from the amendments presented yesterday by Tremonti does not seem to me to be either organic or complete. The interventions for real fiscal traceability conceived by the Prodi government were a completely different story.
