Revenue, after Ruffini's resignation two-man race for succession: internal choice or a general

The succession of Ernesto Maria Ruffini re-proposes, in an updated key and with political overtones all internal to the government coalition, the eternal 'dual' issue of tax/tax administration, on the one hand the Inland Revenue Agency, on the other - at the same time alternative and complementary - the Guardia di Finanza.

Option one has the name of Vincenzo Carbone, the current Deputy Chief Director of the Taxpayers Division, appointed last February by Ruffini himself, on the strength of a much-appreciated 30-year career in the Agency, spent in both regional and central areas. Carbone's great sponsor is Deputy Minister Maurizio Leo, who, among other things, from 1993 to 1999 had himself been Central Director for Legal Affairs and Tax Litigation in the Revenue Department of the MEF.

The appointment of Carbone, who is in great agreement with the deputy minister, would be little more than a formality - also due to Leo's contiguity with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni - were it not for the competition of the Giorgetti area candidate, Guardia di Finanza Brigadier General Luigi Vinciguerra.

Vinciguerra is currently head of the General Command's III Operations Department, in fact the Corps' most important operational role with 'visibility' over all areas of taxation (and tax evasion), and can count on the unconditional esteem of Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti. Unlike his (potential) predecessor, General Antonino Maggiore, who was appointed head of the Agency by the Conte 2 government when he was regional commander, remained in office for only 15 months between 2018 and 2019 and then returned to operational roles, Vinciguerra is considered to be at the apex of his career in the Fiamme Gialle and for the experience gained in the field (among other things, the investigations developed during his tenure in Turin) appears ready for the big leap into the 'civilian' branch of the administration.

Moving on to the political side, which is crucial at these heights, the very prosaic question is 'whose turn it is' to make the appointment. Here the precedent set in August comes back into play, when Giorgetti 'imposed' the choice of Daria Perrotta at the State General Accounting Office: not only the first woman at the top of public accounting in the history of the country, but also the first time of a choice that was not internal or did not come from the Bank of Italy. The alternation, therefore, also in light of that political 'diktat', would have the deputy minister Leo choosing the future head of the Agency. All clear if there were not, not even too much in the background, the echo of the belly aches for the agreement letters of last week and - even more so - the disappointing result of the adhesions to the 'tax-friend' campaign. The alternative to which is the slightly more 'militarised' IRS, devoted to looking for missing revenue, rather than asking for it.