Italian Families’ Spending Monitored By Police

Italian families’ spending pattern is being monitored by the police to determine who needs to handover more tax. I’m sure other states within the EUSSR will closely monitoring this move to see how effective it can be. Certainly eurozone nations are turning to newer taxes and more drastic methods of raising revenue to hand over to the banks. It completely goes against someones right to privacy but since when does that matter within the EUSSR.

The Italian authorities have been accused of resorting to police state-style tactics with the introduction of a new weapon to hunt down the nation’s many tax dodgers.

The new procedure makes it possible to scrutinise any family’s spending pattern, and compare this with what it says it earns. Tax evasion in Italy has been a chronic problem for generations The authorities say the equivalent of nearly 120bn euros (£100bn, $160bn) worth of revenue is lost every year. And the nation’s army of tax inspectors desperately needs more firepower. But some commentators have been outraged by this month’s launch of what is called the Redditometro – the Income Meter. It has been described as unacceptably intrusive, the sort of thing that East Germany’s secret police might have dreamt up .

How it will work

The Italian tax inspectors have always had a lot of useful information to help verify income tax returns. They have had data relating to major items of expenditure, like home and car ownership, and so on. But the Redditometro will now help the authorities get a better fix on people’s likely spending habits in many other areas of daily life. First, the system has divided the entire population into 11 classic, household types; couples, singles, families with children, etc. Then it has built up very detailed models that show how each category is likely to spend its income.

The average probable outlay across 100 different areas of expenditure has been examined; food, drink, clothing, leisure pursuits, etc. Then these predictions have been further refined by taking into account regional variations. So the tax authorities believe that they will have a very good idea what sum, for example, the average family of four in southern Italy will be required to spend to get by.

Then, if such a family’s tax return suggests its income is substantially lower than that sum the authorities might get suspicious. The family will have fallen outside its expected spending pattern model, and an investigation might be triggered. The family might be asked, “How could you have so little income, and yet be spending the kind of money that we know a family like yours, in your part of Italy, must be spending every day?”

The family may then have to explain more about where its money is coming from, and how exactly it is being spent.

……….

Meanwhile you can use the Redditest, which is an app that you can download to test yourself, to see if your income matches your spending and if you are “at risk”.

Source: BBC

Venice Looks For Independence From Italy

Its not just Scotland and Catalonia that are seeking independence but also Venice is joining the list as a mass rally over the weekend marched in a call for a referendum. Support for independence has grown to 70% and most cite Italy’s economic woes as a major reason to breakaway. Scilly and Sardinia are also considering such a move. As the economic situation worsens across Europe I’m sure we will see more and more regions wanting to split. The politicians will have their hand full.

Cash Transaction In Italy To Be Banned Over €50 In Next 2-3 Years

Back in January this year, Italy announced plans to limit cash transactions and also all credit card transaction had to be reported. Now it looks to push the limit even lower by possibly early next year the limit could be  as low as €50. Other countries have announced cash limits but none as draconian is this YET. How long before all cash transactions and we go full digital?

 Below is a google translate from Sudtirol News:

Rome – The technical Rome government wants to limit cash transactions in Italy.From 2013, citizens may pay amounts in excess of 50 euros only by credit or debit card. Dies hat der Ministerrat heute beschlossen. That the Council of Ministers decided today.

The measure is intended to reflect the money laundering and black money payments to clamp down.  Since July, the government has banned cash transactions over 1,000 euros.

Source: Suedtirolnews

Italian Cities Going Bankrupt Next

This euro debt crisis lurches on as early reports are surfacing from Italy of many cities struggling, so much so that they are even considering closing schools. Last week it was regions in Spain that were bust followed by a spike in Spanish bonds, now the focus will shortly shift to Italy and already we are seeing an increase in bond prices. The EURUSD is currently at 1.208, at what level will it be by the end of the summer?

The ordinary Italian citizens are beginning to see the big picture and there are reports in LaStampa of panic setting in across social media sites regarding the current state of Italy’s economic situation.

ITALY’S financial outlook darkened today amid warnings that 10 cities are at risk of bankruptcy and schools may not be able to open in the autumn because of drastic spending cuts.

The cities at risk of running out of money include Naples, Palermo in Sicily and Reggio Calabria, on the toe of the Italian boot, according to the Italian press.

“The situation is becoming worse by the day,” said Graziano Del Rio, the president of a national association of municipal councils.

The warning came just days after Mario Monti, the prime minister, expressed fears that Sicily, which has a high degree of fiscal autonomy, was on the brink of a default.

Cities and towns in southern Italy have for years been plagued by mismanagement, corruption, the wasteful use of EU funds and infiltration by the Mafia. But the “black list” of cities at risk also includes some in the north of Italy such as Alessandria, in the Piedmont region.

Italy’s regions face “a serious situation”, said Annamaria Cancellieri, the interior minister, although she downplayed concerns that Sicily would be forced to default.

Since when have things got so bad that schools need to close? Obviously, this points to how serious the situation is brewing in Italy. Why couldn’t it have happened in my day? Somebody always benefits from a crisis 😉

Deep cuts to Italy’s provinces may mean that some schools will not be able to open after the summer holidays, the president of the provincial government association said. “With these cuts we won’t be able to guarantee the opening of the school year,” said Giuseppe Castiglione.

Mr Monti hopes to reduce the country’s €2 trillion national debt by dissolving 64 of Italy’s 107 provinces, addressing long-standing concerns that they are an unnecessary and wasteful tier of government.

The government plans to slash €500m from the provinces’ budgets this year and a further €1bn in 2013.

The Monti government is pushing ahead with an ambitious spending review that envisages cuts to government services worth €26bn over the next three years.

Mr Monti reiterated that he will step down in Spring 2013, paving the way for elections.

Finally, Berlusconi will make another bid to be president once Monti steps down. The way look at it is, this presidential election can be viewed as an IQ test for the nation. A vote for the corrupt Berlusconi is a vote for Dumocracy.

Silvio Berlusconi has indicated that he will try to become prime minister for a fourth time, a declaration that has only increased market nervousness over Italy’s economic future.

Source: Irish Independent, MISH

Italian Bank Freezes Accounts For One Month

A major Italian bank (Bank Network Investments SpA) announced on the 31st May that it would freeze accounts for one month. Its an interesting story when you lay it beside the EU planning capital controls if Greece leaves the euro. That obviously could be sooner than we think as the elections are set for 17th June. Why has the MSM not covered this story?

On May 31st Bank Network Investments discretely posted an announcement on their website that they would be freezing all of their customers accounts for 1 month freeze on citing financial difficulties.

The announcement was posted and the bank gave customers 7 days to act before the Bank of Italy approved freeze went into effect.

The bank’s customers are saying they were completely unaware of the notice being posted and are just now finding out about it when they go to the bank or the ATM for the first time.

The media certainly hasn’t reported on it and news of the freeze is only now starting to make its way around the internet after a complaint was posted on the popular Italian consumer rights website Adiconsum along with a photo of a shutdown ATM.

The freezing of the customer’s deposits, in a nation that apparently doesn’t have a mechanism like the FDIC to insure customer deposits against losses, has sent a shockwaves of terror across Italy raising fears that other customers will lose their deposits entirely.

In turn speculation is growing that other banks in Italy and across Europe may soon suffer the same fate as Europe officials announce they are planning ATM and Bank withdrawal restrictions to deal with a Greece exits from the Euro.

Related Story: EU plan capital controls

Source: blog.alexanderhiggins.com, http://www.bancanetwork.it/content/sospensione-dei-pagamenti

Child Labour Returns To Italy

Recent figures from Eurostat announced unemployment across europe has risen for 10 months straight, but the way people are coping is getting more desperate especially after hearing the suicide story from Greece. Le Monde ran a story from Naples, Italy where thousands of kids are leaving school to work up to 12 hours a day.

Under the headline “Child Labour Re-emerges in Naples”, the article describes how thousands of children have been forced to quit school and find jobs in order to help feed their families in the southern Italian metropolis. The article cites a local government report from 2011 which noted that 54,000 children left the education system in the Campania region between 2005 and 2009. Some 38 percent of these children were less than 13 years old.

The article goes on to record how child labour has become a fact of life in the region, with small children involved in a broad range of occupations. The deputy mayor of Naples is cited as saying: “Of course, we were the poorest region in Italy. But we haven’t seen a situation like this since the end of the Second World War… At age 10, these kids are already working 12 hours a day, which is a clear breach of their right to development”.

The Le Monde article points out that the desperate plight of children and youth in the region is a direct result of the austerity measures and financial “reforms” introduced by a succession of Italian governments. These have sharply reduced or eliminated access to federal welfare benefits for the unemployed and poor.

The main support for young people and their families in the region is provided by local associations, which are increasingly being starved of funding. The article notes that 20,000 workers in such schemes in the Campania region have not received pay for the past two years.

The re-emergence of child labour is not an Italian question. Two hundred years after the birth of the novelist Charles Dickens, who graphically portrayed the consequences of such practices, child labour is a problem which now confronts all of Europe. It is a devastating indictment of the political consensus in Europe, including social democratic parties and the trade unions, which back the European Union and its policies.

Source: Globalresearch