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Because the tax collection reform is not a gift to tax evaders. Word of the economist from Italia Viva

Because the tax collection reform is not a gift to tax evaders. Word of the economist from Italia Viva

The Meloni government has launched a new legislative decree on fiscal delegation. Here's what I think. The post by Luigi Marattin, economist and deputy of Italia Viva, taken from his blog

Yesterday the Council of Ministers launched a new legislative decree on fiscal delegation. This time it concerns the tax collection reform, a typical ultra curve theme ("you are a defender of tax evaders!", "and you are Dracula!").

We liberal democrats have always held a clear position on the issue: tax collection does not work, and must be fundamentally reformed, pragmatism balancing the "good face" of the tax system with the bad one.

But let's take a closer look at what the government decree does. As usual, in ten questions and answers.

1) ARE THERE ANY AMENDMENTS?

No. At no point are taxes due canceled.

2) BUT I READ THAT THE RECORDS THAT ARE NOT CLAIMED AFTER 5 YEARS ARE DELETED!

They don't cancel.

Simply, on new credits (accrued after January 1st), if after five years the Revenue Agency has not managed to collect that credit (because the debtor no longer exists, the company has gone bankrupt, there are no assets that can be attacked, etc. ), the credit returns to the institution to which the money was owed (the municipality, INPS, etc.).

3) AND DOES THIS FEEL RIGHT TO YOU?

Sacrosanct.

If a debt is not collected (or rather, if collection operations do not begin) in 5 years, it is useless to keep it moldering in the warehouse: this is how we have reached 1200 billion in uncollected credits, the vast majority of which are uncollectible.

With the new mechanism, after 5 years the credit returns to the entity that had requested the intervention of the Revenue Agency for compulsory collection: it will be the one to evaluate whether changes have occurred in the debtor's financial situation (and if so entrust it to private collection ) or if that credit simply no longer exists and cancel it from your balance sheets.

4) AND WHAT IS DONE ABOUT OLD CREDITS (THOSE 1200 BILLION ABOVE)?

The decree entrusts the task of understanding what to do to a special commission, made up of the court of auditors, the finance department and the state's general accounting department.

That's fine, as long as it's not the usual way to waste time: keeping a warehouse full of credits that no longer exist (but which by law must still be "worked") takes time and resources away from hunting for credits which, instead, are alive and well but that no one goes looking for.

5) I HAVE READ THAT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAYING TAXES IN INSTALLMENTS IS MUCH EXPANDED.

Yes.

And it is done well (an amendment by the undersigned had already intervened on this point during the Draghi government which had increased the installments to 72 per month).

For those who simply self-declare that they are in difficulty (without providing proof), the installments within which it is possible to defer the debt gradually pass from the current 72 to 108 starting from 2029.

For those who document their difficulty with the ISEE or with accounting data, the installments immediately become 120.

6) BUT IS IT RIGHT TO ALLOW 10 YEARS TO PAY THE TAXES?

It depends on how you do it.

Generally speaking, no business should be faced with the question of whether to pay taxes or pay suppliers or employees.

However there is one thing that needs to be done to make the mechanism fairer.

7) WHICH ONE?

Too many taxpayers, in recent years, have joined the installment plan, paid the first instalment, and then disappeared. The data recently published on the 4 "scrappings" that have occurred in the last ten years tell us this.

To avoid this situation, the collection must become effectively effective.

8) WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

If the tax authorities put on a "good face" (giving 10 years to pay a tax bill), then they must also put on a "bad face". Otherwise the system will become unbalanced.

If you then don't pay me the installments (or, even before that, if you don't contest the debt and don't ask for it to be paid in instalments), the taxman must have the tools to forcefully and quickly recover those sums.

On one condition: all structural improvements in fiscal fidelity must necessarily (and not optionally, as now) be aimed at reducing the tax burden, as stated in a bill signed by me for the first time which has been deposited in parliament for some time.

9) BUT WHAT DOES THE GOVERNMENT THINK ABOUT THIS "HARD FACE"?

The rule on making collection effective had been included in the tax delegation. Then the topic was illuminated by the "media light beam" and the ultra curves challenge began.

But the concept, also strengthened in the budget law, remained. Now it is up to the government to demonstrate that it can implement it.

In fact, he's already started. In this legislative decree, there is an epochal passage. Which I imagine no one in the center-right will have any interest in publicizing.

10) EVEN? AND WHICH?

Until now the system worked like this: first the Revenue Agency proceeded with the assessment of the unpaid taxes (i.e. the dispute of the credit). Then, in a subsequent phase, there was the collection.

With this decree, a revolution is underway: by canceling the registration, these two phases are concentrated into a single one: the executive assessment.

That is, the collection of unpaid taxes is made faster and more streamlined: I dispute the credit and, at the same time, I require you to pay (obviously without prejudice to all the tools, old and new, for taxpayer protection).

CONCLUSIONS

The decree, far from the electoral campaign tall tales, tries to keep the "good face" and the "bad face" in balance. And as such in my opinion it should be supported.

With some suggestions for improvement: the "demonstration of difficulty" phase (for example by presenting the ISEE) lends itself to a lot of bureaucracy and ambiguity. Let's think about it carefully: we might as well give less time, but without manipulable bureaucracy.

And secondly, politics must not be afraid of easy populism: a serious system knows how to facilitate the honest taxpayer, but has the courage to really pursue what does nothing but make fun of the State.


This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/perche-la-riforma-della-riscossione-non-e-un-regalo-agli-evasori-parola-di-economista-di-italia-viva/ on Sat, 16 Mar 2024 07:09:15 +0000.