There is an intention to revise the boarding tax in Palazzo di Città. In fact, be precise the president of the budget council commission, Fabio Polverino, it was already there. «We need to verify the numbers – explains Polverino – And for this we plan to meet the shipping companies». In the aftermath of the announcement by maritime operators to resort to Tar against the resolution with which the Common has established, since last April 1st, the municipal surcharge on boarding fees fromthe ports of Salerno, Palazzo Guerra has set to work to verify the feasibility of a remodulation of the tax, currently consisting of 1.50 euros for all passengers embarking from the ports of Salerno, without distinctions relating to the travel of the routes. As a guideline, to meet the needs of residents and commuters – needs also supported by president of the Transport council commission of the Campania Region, Luca Cascone, and by the PD deputy Piero De Luca – we would need to find 200 thousand euros or so in the budget. Pennies, compared to the over 8 million euros found in two weeks to remedy the serious error made in drawing up the budget forecast.
THE STRATEGY
«The first thing to do – explains Polverino – is to check which numbers we are talking about. Even in the city council, when the tax was approved, we said that we would make any adjustments after its entry into force. So there will be a series of meetings with the shipping operators, we will look at the numbers and, if there is a possibility of tweaking something, we will do so. But we already said that. For us it was important to introduce the tax in the budget.” Moreover, the original direction received from the municipal council was to modulate the tax based on the length of the routes to be covered. A mechanism that is too complex, “given the plurality of subjects involved which makes coordination difficult”, underlines Polverino. And given the need to introduce the municipal surtax for 2024, already with a year’s delay compared to what was established by the Pact for Salerno signed with the Mef. The tax, in fact, should have been established in 2023, but it was impossible to do so because thePort Authority had not provided data on passenger flows and on the administrative and accounting methods for managing the tax itself. To recover the lost revenue, the Municipality had to resort to a further increase, equal to 0.05%, of the municipal surcharge to the Irpef for 2023. In the 2024-2026 budget forecast, according to the number of approximately 500 thousand passengers per year provided to the Municipality by the Port Authority, with the surcharge equal to 1.50 euros per passenger, without distinction, the estimated revenue relating to the municipal surcharge on boarding fees is equal to 750 thousand euros.
COSTS
Eliminating the tax for residents, workers and commuters (but season ticket holders already pay the tax only when they sign up for the season ticket) and remodulating the tariffs based on the routes should not entail too high a cost. «We need to meet the Port Authority and, above all, the shipping companies. They are the ones who have to provide us with the numbers of commuters, season ticket holders, the routes most affected and so on, on the basis of which we can calculate. It is on the flow of passengers that we have parameterised the tax and it is on that flow that we will eventually have to remodulate it”, continues Polverino. Which he adds: «Not only the Amalfi Coast must be taken into consideration, but also Cilento».
At the moment, the Municipality has already had discussions with the regional councilor Cascone and, pending the meeting with the maritime operators, yet to be scheduled, the issue will also be discussed next week in the council budget commission. Moreover, the opposition had already raised the controversy before the approval of the tax. And the majority itself had proven sensitive to the topic.
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