Cash payments in Italy-not for the EU
2022.11.24 12:31
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Cash payments in Italy-not for the EU
Budrigannews.com – According to a former official from the Italian Treasury who assisted in negotiating the agreements, a proposal that is included in the draft budget of Italy does not conform to the country’s previous commitments to encourage electronic payments as a means of increasing tax compliance.
Sanctions against merchants who refuse to accept card payments were one of the so-called policy “milestones” included in Italy’s pandemic recovery plan, which was agreed upon with Brussels in exchange for approximately 208 billion euros ($200 billion) in EU funds.
According to a draft of its 2023 budget that was approved by cabinet on Tuesday, Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government intends to eliminate the requirement to accept electronic settlements for purchases less than 30 euros.
Alessandro Santoro, an economics professor and a former Treasury official who worked with Mario Draghi to negotiate some of the terms of Rome’s Recovery Plan with Brussels, said that while Meloni’s plan may not have broken Italy’s contract in writing, it did break its spirit.
According to Santoro, who spoke with Reuters, “the proposal to reduce the scope of a previous law that introduced the obligation for sellers to accept electronic payments is not in line with previous commitments to incentivize electronic purchases as a way to increase tax compliance.”
However, he stated that Rome had probably managed to avoid conflict with Brussels because the Recovery Plan milestone mandated sanctions but did not specify how they should be applied.
Santoro stated, “The scheme is formally compliant with the EU-funded plan.”
Meloni is more liberal towards cash than her ancestors, something which pundits say gambles with empowering charge dodgers in a nation where in excess of 100 billion euros sidestepped consistently, as per Depository information.
Additionally, starting next year, the limit on cash payments is increased from 1,000 euros to 5,000 euros in the budget.
One of the requirements for Rome’s acquisition of the 21 billion euro Recovery Fund tranche in the first half of this year was the imposition of the sanctions, which amount to 30 euros plus 4% of the transaction’s value.
From the roughly 200 billion euros that Italy is expected to receive from the EU through 2026, almost 67 billion euros have been received thus far.
If it achieves the 55 goals and milestones set for the second half of 2022, it will be eligible for an additional 19 billion euros at the end of this year.$1 = 0.9609 euros)
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