Relaunch of historic centres, Italia Viva: light taxation for those who rent a closed shop

That of unused commercial premises is a complex problem that afflicts many realities in Italy: "Small and medium-sized cities are emptying out", and "there is a need to give an immediate wake-up call", also from a regulatory point of view, for "a revitalisation of historic centres". This was said by Senator Daniela Sbrollini (Italia Viva), first signatory of a bill ("Dispositions on commercial real estate", Senate Act 1540) assigned to the Industry Committee of Palazzo Madama, which aims to revitalise the open-air shopping centres that are a large part of Italian cities by providing mayors with tools, including fiscal ones, and resources to avoid the urban decay that often accompanies unlet shops.

In many cases, Sbrollini explained to Parliament 24, 'there is certainly a problem of decay, but there is also a problem of security, because the more our cities empty out, the less attractive they are to the inhabitants, to the people who come to visit. So something must be done immediately, to shake things up'. Italia Viva's Pdl proposes, for example, the possibility for first citizens to raise IMU and Tasi rates for shops that have been vacant for a long time. Fiscal leverage 'can be a tool' to relaunch historic centres by preventing the deterioration of commercial premises: 'if, for example, for more than a year there are shops, commercial activities that have been vacant, the municipality, hence the mayor' must be able to intervene 'either by providing tax relief' or 'by raising local taxes', to induce 'an owner who has been keeping a commercial activity closed for more than a year' to rent, 'perhaps even in a degraded manner'.

The bill, concludes Sbrollini, 'was born in a bipartisan manner', promoted 'by mayors but also by the Confcommercio, which is at the forefront in this respect to safeguard and protect the historic centres of Italian cities'.