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Jewish World Review
Nov 28, 2011
/ 2 Kislev, 5772
Italians entertain novel proposition: Paying their taxes
By
Dale McFeatters
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
In Italy, tax evasion is somewhere between a folk art and a way of life. As a nation, Italians have given themselves generous cuts in their taxes by the simple expedient of not paying them.
The result is that the government loses out on $340 billion a year, about 21 percent of GDP, and that is a big reason the country faces a debt crisis. The Washington Post calculated, "If collected annually, that amount could pay back every last cent of Italy's $2.6 trillion debt in just under eight years."
The official figures would make even the Republican green eyeshades who calculate the bounty that would flow to the U.S. government from additional tax cuts suspicious.
Italy is the world's eighth largest economy yet of the 41 million tax returns filed in 2010, fewer than 1 percent -- 394,000 in a nation of 60 million people -- reported incomes of more than $135,000. Two-thirds of Italians reported incomes of less than $27,000 and half of those reported earning under $13,500.
For a long time, Italy's frustrated tax collectors got little help from their country. Recently departed prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, even appeared to encourage tax evasion by joking about it.
But there are signs that Italy's tradition of "only fools pay taxes" could be changing under pressure from its eurozone partners and the threat of Grecian-style austerity measures and slashes in the public payroll.
Since 2009, the government has collected $13.6 billion in evaded taxes, a small step but perhaps only the beginning. Public opinion is turning against tax evaders and a recent poll, quoted in the Post, shows that 73 percent of the public is demanding sterner measures against cheats.
And they may get it. Their new prime minister, Mario Monti, is a serious minded economist. New laws imposed tougher penalties. Including mandatory jail time for the most serious cheats.
All-cash transactions are notoriously open to abuse so the government, according to the Post, is moving toward a "cashless" society were payments above a certain amount would have to be made by credit or debit card, check or electronic fund transfer, transactions that would leave a trail the tax collectors could monitor.
Over two millennia ago Caesar decreed that all the world should be taxed. Now his successors in Rome would settle for just the Italians paying theirs.
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Previously:
• 11/25/11 No time to let up on al-Qaida
• 11/24/11 Congress Quietly Abolishing Friday
• 11/23/11 Cleaning up after supercommittee implosion
• 11/22/11 Jailing minors with adults adds to problems
• 11/21/11 Brilliant strategy? Action by inaction
• 11/18/11They're going to eat horses, aren't they?
• 11/17/11 A pretend stick shift for pretend drivers
• 11/16/11 Clinton's ‘vast experiences’: Did NBC pick the wrong Chelsea?
• 11/15/11 Occupy protesters, you've made your point. Now, scat
• 11/10/11 Our vets are a national problem?
• 11/09/11 Requiem for a once-great sport
• 11/08/11 A toilet as smart as its occupant
• 11/07/11 Prerevolutionary gems in need of TLC
• 11/04/11 Feds must stop scam of stealing from dead children
• 11/03/11 Bank listens ‘very closely’ to customer lynch mob
• 11/01/11 TV that's leading the people away from ‘core socialist values’
• 10/31/11 NATO should not be a victim of its success
• 10/28/11 Iran mulls getting rid of president and presidency
• 10/27/11 Bienvenidos a Dayton and bring your businesses with you
• 10/26/11 Archivists long for Obama's teleprompter
• 10/25/11 United Nations to run the Internet?
• 10/24/11 Attention, world: You've got the cash. We've got the houses
• 10/19/11 Oil pipeline must be in America's future
• 10/18/11 U.S. plans ‘limited’ mission in an Africa with no limits
• 10/17/11 Social Security's grave mistakes
• 10/12/11 NASA's help-wanted sign for astronauts
• 10/10/11 Saving Thomas Jefferson''s chimneys
• 10/06/11 Uncle Sam's answer to deadbeats --- robo-calls
• 10/04/11 Christie should ignore jibes on his weight
• 10/03/11 Iran says its warships will head for Jersey shore
• 09/29/11 Europeans bristle at Obama's lectures
• 09/28/11 Jessica Rabbit for the defense
• 09/27/11 Russia learns outcome of next March's presidential election
• 09/26/11 Another try at leaving no child behind
• 09/23/11 This generation needs a job more than a name
• 09/22/11 In the lane next to you: A driverless car
• 09/20/11 Cloudy, cool, chance of falling satellite
• 09/14/11 Humanitarian extortion
• 09/13/11 Paging Dr. Watson; he's there in 3 seconds
• 09/09/11 Forecasting 100 percent chance of heavy metal
• 09/08/11 A jobs program at Obama's doorstep
• 09/07/11 Iran's government afraid of the water
• 09/06/11 Congress returns, tanned, rested and testy
• 09/05/11 Space nations must clean up after themselves
• 09/02/11 Osama bin Laden died a failure and he knew it
• 09/01/11 Time to retire political pie in the face
• 08/31/11 Labor Day celebrates what, exactly?
• 08/30/11 These arrestees really are framed
• 08/25/11 When in an earthquake, block traffic
• 08/23/11 A case for discretion in deportation arrests
• 08/22/11 Tough times or not, parents shell out for school
• 08/18/11 Being unpleasant for fun, profit, promotion
• 08/17/11 Time to prepare for the end game in Libya
• 08/16/11: ‘Super Committee’ starts facing reality
• 08/15/11: World's fastest plane disappears even faster
• 08/12/11: British cops track rioters through security cameras
• 08/11/11: Relax. There is no Death Star
• 08/10/11: House pages run final errands
• 08/09/11: U.S. treading water on job creation
• 08/08/11: Uncle Sam, the world's permanent guest
• 08/05/11: Most 9/11 victims not on federal death records
• 08/04/11: Russian PM calls U.S. a ‘parasite.’ He should be so lucky
• 08/03/11: Congress goes from one bind to another
• 08/02/11: D.B. Cooper may no longer be a mystery
• 08/01/11: Libya's latest weapon against NATO --- lawsuits
• 07/29/11: He'll always be known as Hot Wheels Handler
• 07/25/11: Recruiting children to save a dying town
• 07/22/11: Bachmann's admirable medical candor
• 07/12/11: Social Security's grave mistakes
• 07/08/11: Debt crisis need not be constitutional crisis
• 07/07/11: Startups entice new talent with kickball, treehouses
• 07/05/11: Stranded tourists get rare treat
• 06/30/11: The dollar Americans refuse to spend
• 06/27/11: The hangman doesn't cometh
© 2011, SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
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