The measures of the economic maneuver launched by the Monti government “have restrictive effects on GDP estimated at half a point percentage in the next two years” and “are concentrated for about two thirds on revenues, bringing the tax burden around 45%“. This was the alarm raised by the governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco, during a hearing in the Chamber.
However, Visco underlined that, despite the recessive effects, the new package “is a necessary and urgent measure for restore creditworthiness of our State and avoid extremely serious and lasting consequences on the real economy”. In this direction, the priority remains “a resolute action of fight against tax evasion". The law decree “intervenes in the field of tax evasion by establishing the reduction from 2.500 to 1.000 euros of the threshold for the use of cash. A further reduction of the threshold would be desirable; should be accompanied by a reduction in the costs associated with the use of electronic money”.
Furthermore, according to the number one of via Nazionale, “the emergence of the taxable base and the rationalization of expenditure could lead to a reduction in the tax burden necessary to give greater stimulus to businesses and employment. The effort to ensure the return to higher growth rates, the recovery of business competitiveness, greater job creation must be intensified, rapidly implementing incisive measures that complement those already defined with the government decree, in an overall, organic framework capable of definitively reassuring those who have invested and are investing in our country".
In the current conditions, however, “a further tightening of credit supply conditions could arise from the persistence of wholesale funding difficulties in the banking sector”.
Going back to the new manoeuvre, the measures “aimed at achieving a balanced budget in 2013 lead to a correction of the balance in the order of 20 billion in each year of the next three years. Also taking into account the interventions adopted in the summer, the correction in 2013 amounted to 76 billion".
As for the hottest topic, pensions, Visco underlined that “the extension of the contributory method to all workers reduces the inequality of treatment and makes the relationship between contributions paid and pension benefits closer, reducing distortions to the job offer”.
Finally, the liberalisations: “In the sectors of pharmacies, shops and transport, the reform processes that began in the second half of the last decade are restarted; regulatory and monitoring powers are attributed to independent authorities (incorporating existing agencies) in the water and postal services sectors. It is a path to which the summer maneuvers had already given a significant boost, with interventions relating to professional services and local public services, to be continued with determination by effectively implementing the measures already envisaged", concluded Visco.
