Giorgetti: ‘Tax cuts are a priority. Let’s strengthen Istat’s surveys’
The Minister for the Economy: the OECD’s forecasts have improved; we are not lagging behind the rest of Europe
“The government has repeatedly reaffirmed its priorities regarding the continuation of the process of reducing income tax for the middle classes.” This was emphasised by the Minister for the Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, whilst responding to Question Time in the Chamber of Deputies, confirming that the revision of the IRPEF tax brackets “is one of the objectives”.
“Of course, these are decisions that will need to be brought together into a coherent whole, and this will happen shortly because, first and foremost, the public finance framework needs to be updated,” he added. “By the beginning of October, the government’s strategic intentions and policy measures will have been clarified,” he explained.
‘OECD forecasts have improved; we’re not bringing up the rear in Europe’
Giorgetti said: “We have taken note of the Istat figures, have we failed? We are absolutely in line with the forecast.” “If we had exited the European infringement procedure early,” he added, “not only would we have met the targets, we would have done the Italian Republic a service, not the government.” As for growth, ‘the government had prudently forecast 0.6 per cent for this year, today the OECD has acknowledged this and revised its forecast from 0.5 per cent to 0.9 per cent, and naturally this does not place us at the bottom of the table in Europe. Other countries are in far worse shape in an absolutely unfavourable international context’.
‘We are strengthening Istat surveys, which are not always in line with requirements’
The Minister then turned his attention to the statistical data collection system, stating that the continuous updating of Istat data ‘whilst rooted in specific statistical requirements, undeniably has a significant impact on national budgetary decisions, as it modifies ex post parameters used in the European fiscal surveillance procedure and in the preparation of public finance documents, which are even more sensitive to changes in light of the new European economic governance”.
The Minister then pointed out that the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) ‘has repeatedly called for regulatory changes to strengthen the reporting system already in place, which is not always compatible with the requirements for drawing up the accounts; this concerns public-private partnership projects involving a very large number of public authorities’.
