A document has been drawn up with the requests of the trade association, with the promise to “exercise its role as an active interlocutor”
The trade landscape is subject to constant and continuous change.
The reality, evident and indisputable, is that we are seeing more home deliveries and fewer and fewer users entering shops.
This means that shop windows continue to move from the street to the Internet.
A phenomenon confirmed by the numbers: in the first three months of 2024 almost ten thousand retail businesses disappeared, for an average of over four fewer stores every hour.
A collapse which corresponds to the unstoppable growth of online purchases, which according to recent survey estimates, this way of shopping will rise by +13% during 2024, generating over 734 million shipments to customers, on average almost 84 thousand parcel deliveries At that time.
An exchange between shop windows and parcels destined to have a negative impact on local economies, precisely because with the migration of purchases to international shopping platforms eCommerce – who often pay taxes in other countries – the tax revenue generated by shops also migrates.
And precisely on the basis of these findings and assessments, Confesercenti Nazionale has found that the disappearance of commercial activities from the territory has already led the Italian tax authorities to lose, from 2014 to today, over 5.2 billion euros in taxes.
For all these reasons, Confesercenti Umbria, chaired by Giuliano Granocchia, precisely in view of the next political panorama that will emerge after the elections of 8 and 9 June, is preparing to launch an appeal to those who will fill the role as first citizen, asking future mayors for “concrete and constructive interventions to facilitate and encourage businesses in the Umbrian territory, at a crucial moment for economic and social recovery”.
An appeal so that, once they assume the role of governors of the city, they can present urgent proposals and requests that will give the opportunity to business, tourism and service entrepreneurs who operate throughout the regional territory to have a better future, “no longer conditioned by “increase in energy prices due to war and speculation, to the increase in interest rates” – we read in a note from Confesercenti, which is also keen to underline the fact that “small and medium-sized enterprises are the engine of national and local economy, a significant part of the social capital of the territory, for employment and well-being as well as for the role of protection and service carried out for the community”.
Confesercenti, therefore, intends to continue to exercise its role as an active, proactive and stimulating interlocutor with local institutions and with those who will be called upon to represent them, bringing to the attention of the discussion all the value and strength of its representation and ideas .
It will therefore be decisive and a priority to address and respond to this dual need: taxation and bureaucracy, to support businesses and help them resist on the market.
For Confesercenti Umbria “the tax lever of the various Municipalities can and must be used to support small and medium-sized businesses. In particular, also reviewing in the future the taxes on the occupation of public land and advertising. And the tourist tax, of which a reduction of at least 50% is requested for the next 3 years”.
The note is clear: “The rules must be overturned: for example by reducing VAT or halving the personal income tax for those who choose this profession. To slightly rebalance the fiscal imbalance to the advantage of the online sales giants, who profit from disproportionate revenues. We know that this is not the direct responsibility of a Mayor, but we ask the future mayor of any city in Umbria to forcefully place this issue on the tables of national and European politics”.
“The commercial desertification of small towns, but also of the most popular neighborhoods, must be opposed as it compromises the very liveability of the places. One of the first interventions to counter this phenomenon is to think of agreed contracts for commercial activities, especially in historic centres. A special Commission, made up of municipal technicians, representatives of the Real Estate Owners’ Associations, the Trade Union Associations, the professional associations involved and the Business Agencies, as for the agreed rent for residential use, must identify a fair rental figure for square meter of the commercial property. The Municipality will therefore have to propose a reduced IMU rate to owners who comply instead of applying the full rate”.
“A common impetus is then necessary in the development of coordination and aggregation tools between businesses, which are fundamental in the promotion and organization of natural commercial districts, as well as the last and important barrier to protect the small business owner to compete against the deregulation of e-commerce and the expansionism of large-scale retail trade”.
