Giorgetti: manoeuvre will require sacrifices, no extra profit tax but everyone's contribution is needed

'We will approve a manoeuvre that will require sacrifices from everyone'. So said Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti at the Bloomberg Future of Finance Italy event. The minister also said that 'profits and revenues will be taxed, and it will be an effort that the entire country must support, i.e. individuals, but also small, medium and large companies'.

'It is not correct to talk about extra profits', but to 'go and tax the profits to those who have made them: it is an effort that the whole country system must make,' the economy minister added. 'Companies do not do charity, so voluntary contributions do not exist,' he explained, specifying the contours of the possible measures. 'Article 53 of the Constitution exists,' which stipulates that everyone is required to contribute to public spending according to their ability to contribute. "We are committed to a particularly demanding path of return,' he further noted. 'We will return under 3%' in deficit terms 'in 2026, while others such as France will do so in 2029'. Consequently, 'we are preparing to approve a Budget Law in which sacrifices will be asked of everyone'. "There will be a tax call for everyone, not only for the banks, but a reasoned and rational one," he specified. "We are going to tax the right profits, the rightly determined profits, and I am convinced that in the end we will find a balanced solution.

Later comes a clarification from the Mef. On the revenue for the next economic manoeuvre 'an effort will be asked of the larger companies that operate in certain sectors where profits have benefited in some way from favourable external conditions so that they contribute in ways on which discussions are underway'. But in any case, 'no new taxation for individuals is being studied,' it is clarified, 'while smaller companies are already interested in the two-year Preventive Concordat'. 'Any other interpretations of Minister Giorgetti's words are to be considered as forcings'. For the next economic manoeuvre,' it is further explained, 'the guideline will be Article 53 of the Constitution, according to which everyone is obliged to contribute to public expenditure according to their ability to pay'.

"We continue to believe that the target of 1 per cent" of GDP growth this year "is realistic and if it is not 1 per cent it will be very very close to that result," Giorgetti said again, explaining that the forecast was made "when there was no consensus on this because our econometric models, which have proven to be reliable, showed this possibility. Today, the trend confirms these expectations' even though 'it is clear that the international situation will in some way condition the world economy and that of our country'. In this context, 'manufacturing, industry is not doing well but is more than compensated by services' and at the moment Italy is doing 'better than others' in Europe.

We are 'proving with facts that we are keeping our promises', because growth 'confirms our forecasts' and the public finance figures 'for this year will go better' than we communicated to the markets and the Commission, given that the deficit target of 4.4 per cent 'seemed unrealistic and has now been updated to 3.8 per cent, almost a unicum in the European context'. And again: 'We are showing that we are not only respecting' what was said 'but doing better. Let us continue with a prudent and responsible attitude, I believe that credibility is fundamental'.