II Profitometer? “A legacy of the past, Giorgia Meloni was right to suspend it.” Maurizio Leo, Deputy Minister of Economy does not shy away. Speaking in Trento, at the Festival of Economics, he tries to clarify the terms of the issue that has been at the forefront in recent days. However, trying to go further, announcing the intention to intervene, if resources (“they are my nightmare”, he said) allow it, also on financial income. And, resources permitting, Leo has expressed the intention to move forward with the Irpef reform favoring average incomes. But let’s go in order and start from the Redditometer. The instrument has no longer existed since 2015, as explained by the Deputy Minister of Economy. If the synthetic assessment survives, it will have another name: maybe “evasometer”or summary assessment 2.0. We’ll see in the next few weeks. Giorgia Meloni, in her “notes”, the Facebook broadcast with which she illustrates the government’s measures, explained that the decision on the fate of this instrument has not yet been made.
THE HYPOTHESIS
There are two hypotheses on the table. The first is the total cancellation of the summary assessment. The second it is a further “tightening” that “limits it to objectively unacceptable phenomena”, explained the prime minister. One hypothesis could be to apply it only to those who declare to the tax authorities below a certain amount. But for now the government prefers to focus on the biennial preventive agreement, the Pact to which 4.5 million VAT numbers will be called. The software that will be used to calculate the taxes to be paid in the next two years will be released by the Tax Office on June 15th. Then the Pact must be signed by October 15th, in time for the budget maneuver. At that point we will have an idea of how many resources will be available to continue with the tax cut. Whoever joins the agreement will not be subject to investigations by the Revenue Agency. Irony of fate. Until a few weeks ago, the accusation leveled against Leo was that of being too “soft” with tax evaders.
THE PASSAGE
According to the opposition parties, the preventive agreement is an instrument that “legitimizes” tax evasion. In a few days, however, the same Deputy Minister of Economy was dressed up as the persecutor of all taxpayers, honest and otherwise, with the resuscitation of the Redditometer. A sister of Dr Jekill and Mr Hyde of the Revenue. Hard to believe, also because the tax reform signed by Leo, and so far implemented with nine decrees (another four under discussion in Parliament), goes in a different direction. From the new taxpayer statute, with mandatory cross-examination, to the reduction of sanctions, the approach is that of a constant dialogue between the tax authorities and citizens. Collaborative fulfillment has been talked about for months. What happened then? The impression is that the administrative provision arrived in the Official Journal on a sort of “automatic pilot”. We wanted to limit the synthetic assessment, but the message conveyed was the return of the Redditometer. “There was a breakdown in communication,” Leo admitted.
“Today – he explained – we have many cases in which subjects unknown to the tax authorities have SUVs, have yachts and so on and in some way these must be ascertained because by ascertaining these subjects we also find the resources to lower taxes especially in the middle class” . The ministerial decree published in the Gazzetta, and which will now be further modified or superseded, already focused the attention of the summary assessment only on the major tax evaders, taking into account not only the individual income but that of the family unit, using among other things the more favorable parameters (linked to absolute poverty thresholds). A tool to intercept that type of evasion that can also escape the cross-referencing of databases. That is, identifying those who have a standard of living that is completely incomprehensible with the income they declare to the tax authorities. Now the text will be rewritten so as to leave no doubt. Or the synthetic assessment will be abolished definitively. But a mechanism to pursue the great escape will still have to be found.
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