Premier Giorgia Meloni has announced
that the return of a controversial measure to combat
tax-evasion, the so-called 'income-meter' (redditometro), has
been suspended after the move caused a row within her ruling
coalition.
A decree signed by Deputy Economy Minister Maurizio Leo of
Meloni's rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party had brought
back the measure enabling the authorities to check people's
spending to see if it is compatible with their declared incomes.
It was first introduced under ex-premier Matteo Renzi's
centre-left government in 2015 and suspended in 2018.
Leo had stressed that the new measure was very different from
the original 'income-meter', saying the decree put limits on the
tax authorities' ability to dispute alleged incongruities
between people's declared earnings and their expenditure on
cars, homes, boats and travel etc.
Nevertheless, the other two parties in Meloni's ruling
coalition, Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo
Salvini's right-wing League and Deputy Premier and Foreign
Minister Antonio Tajani's centre-right Forza Italia, both
expressed unhappiness at the move.
In a video message released on social media, Meloni said she had
spoken to Leo and decided to suspend the decree pending "further
examination" of the measure.
"Our aim is to combat large-scale tax evasion and the
unacceptable phenomenon such as people who declare they have
have nothing but drive around in a SUV or go on holiday on a
yacht, without harassing ordinary people with invasive
regulations," she said.
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