Inadequate offices, insufficient staff and infrastructures (read wi-fi connection, it goes without saying) which, when they exist, are distributed slowly. In Puglia, especially in Bari, tax justice is grappling with a reality far from the one depicted on paper. But despite everything, magistrates make, as they say, weddings with dried figs. «Confirming a constant positive trend, our offices have managed to guarantee very short deadlines», assures the president of the Second Instance Tax Court of Justice of Puglia, Michele Ancona.
The wedding with dried figs, precisely.
«Let’s take the case of the Court of Justice of first instance of Bari. In the period examined on the occasion of the inauguration of the judicial year, from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023, the offices had 40 members out of the 54 foreseen by the staffing plan».
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That’s 14 people less.
«Which in any case managed to settle more appeals than those received: 3 thousand 405 against the 3 thousand 249 received. Worth noting is the substantial increase in the Court’s productivity. Despite the increase in contingencies, the pending cases decreased from 3 thousand 597 to 2 thousand 847. As did the average time in which a proceeding is settled, which fell below one year. We are at 10 months and 20 days, on average.”
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Added to the list of findings is the issue of headquarters, an issue that affects the entire Bari justice system. How is the structure in via Amendola?
«The president of the Court of First Instance points out the insufficient space available, especially for archives. Then the lease expired on December 31, 2022, and there is the fear of a transfer to unsuitable environments.”
A déjà-vu for Bari justice. What is the situation of the other courts of first instance, those that were once the provincial tax commissions?
«In Brindisi the number of magistrates seems sufficient, including that of secretarial staff. The headquarters is finally dignified and adequate for needs. The times for settling the dispute are absolutely reasonable, from almost eight months we have reached eight months and 23 days, but the increase in the workload must be taken into account. In Foggia the average times decrease and the definitions increase significantly”.
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But even there the problem is the location.
«Yes, in Foggia there are structural problems in the condominium that houses the offices and the premises are insufficient: now they are also used by the detached section of the Court of Second Instance, therefore it seems absolutely necessary to find another location, as already reported, also last year”.
Lecce and Taranto?
«We are recording excellent levels of productivity and noticeably decreasing appeal resolution times. In the first case we are on average eight months and 28 days away, from 10 months in 2022; in the second we went from over a year and three months to less than a year: 11 months and one day, to be exact. I must say that in Lecce the president of the Court of First Instance points out the excellent logistical location of the offices, but a lack of secretarial staff; in Taranto the premises are suitable, but there is concern about the vacancy of the positions of section vice-president, due to the cessation of service of the holders, and the vacancy – for some time now – of a position”.
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The lack of staff also weighs on the Court of Second Instance which you lead. How many are you?
«Forty-seven, compared to a forecast of 78 members, as established by the Visco decree. We proceed with internal applications, often “begged”, and with requests for external applications on a national basis, which arrive late and always in limited numbers. Despite everything, almost a thousand more proceedings were defined (from 3 thousand 533 to 4 thousand 298), the result of the sacrifice of all the judges and secretaries. And the average duration of proceedings has been reduced by about a year.”
But the ballast of those pending remains.
«The trend is decreasing, with a minus 7.37 percent overall. The point is that there is an erosion of pending cases, but it is too slow: we are talking about a thousand proceedings a year out of over 16 thousand pending cases”. This is why new magistrates are needed. “The figure of the full-time professional judge has been introduced, starting the process of stabilizing a certain quota of honorary judges, even if the competition notice for the transition from other professional judiciaries did not receive much consensus. Out of 100 places available throughout Italy, 23 applications arrived and only 22 accepted transit, two of which were in Puglia.”
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For new competitions, it will still take some time.
«The decree law Pnrr 19/2024 established that the competition for the hiring of 146 new tax magistrates will be announced by 1 June. Candidates will have to pass a pre-selective quiz test and, subsequently, the written and oral tests. This is a particularly challenging competition, because it requires knowledge of complex subjects. This will be followed by a competition for 204 magistrates in 2025 and one for 204 positions by 2029.”
Long times…
«The hope is that the staff of the new tax judiciary can soon be completed, which plays a fundamental role in the society in which we live, in the life of each citizen as well as in that of companies and the economy in general. It consists in resolving disputes on the exact and fair extent to which each citizen, each operator must contribute to the needs of the community.”
