The Democratic Party and the CGIL are pushing for the tax on large assets, but Romano Prodi holds back: “This is how the right wins”. Meanwhile, the government approves the Tuir reform.
They used to call them progressives, but the ideas of this PD they are far from new. The patrimonial one, again. Tax the rich to distribute to the poor. It should be the glue of this broad field driven by the noble father of the dems: Romano Prodi.
«The patrimonial law is a beautiful thing», he repeats in the lounges of La7, recognizing however that «it cannot be done», not because it is wrong, but because «it makes the right win». «I repeat that when it comes to taxes and migration, the right wins. Either we make a serious reflection on what a different economic model could be, or the right wins with the Thatcher model, which is still going forward. Inequalities, however, are increasing more and more and sooner or later these situations explode”, he told Otto e mezzo.
The return of the tax on large fortunes and the rift between progressives
The secretary of the Democratic Party does not seem to agree, Elly Schleinnor his most trusted ally, Maurizio Landiniformally at the head of the CGIL but in fact the armed arm of this new version of the Dems which is gradually distancing all the reformists from what was once defined as their “home”. Together again, again supporting each other: they insist on the assets with a secondary objective of isolating the president of the 5 Star Movement, Giuseppe Conte.
«We have a Constitution that says that taxation must be progressive and those who have the most must pay, now we are faced with the paradox that taxation is higher for employees and pensioners than on income», said Landini, insisting: «We need a real tax reform to increase salaries and make investments, to create jobs. Whether there is an intervention to be done is a topic that is being discussed in all countries, it is a question of social justice.”
Invariably, Schlein also follows the same line and insists on the minimum wage: «We have had a drop in real salaries of nine percentage points in 4 years, the cost of food has increased by 25%. There is a dramatic decline in purchasing power. Over the last 30 years in Italy, real salaries have decreased by three percentage points. The good news is that we are working on concrete proposals to intervene on jobs and wages with other progressive forces. Among these, the minimum wage.” And to those who ask her if the Democratic Party is no longer the home of reformists, she replies: “I don’t agree with this reading, the Democratic Party will continue to be plural and inclusive”, then declaring herself “sorry” for the farewell of the Vice President of the European Parliament, Pina Picierno.
Between left-wing posters and the armored executive: the total clash
The occasional one is the presentation of a book in Rome in the Feltrinelli bookshop in Largo Argentina. The volume is titled: The Italy that doesn’t make it to the end of the month. Work and wages: a left-wing issue. Written by Mimmo Carrieri, Cesare Damiano and Agostino Megale, given the title it could perhaps become the manifesto of this new version of the Democratic Party, a model of student assembly and social centre. And while the left continues to dream of taxes, in the executive they don’t even think about it. «We won’t do the assets. We don’t even think about it”, said the deputy prime minister and leader of the League, Matteo Salvinidismissing the topic.
«On the left, a single party is advancing, that of the patrimonial party. From Schlein’s Pd to Landini’s CGIL, passing through Conte’s 5 stars and the more ideological sectors of the broad field, the economic recipe is always the same, unalterable for thirty years. A new tax on assets, houses and savings”, wrote the president of the Forza Italia senators, Stefania Craxiin a letter to Time. For Craxi, «a patrimonial system would not make Italy more just but only poorer», because there is a need «to release energy, not to suffocate it; to reduce the tax burden on those who produce and those who have less, not to invent new more or less direct and forced levies; it needs to attract investments, not scare them away.”
The harder it is Federico MolliconeFdi deputy: «Other than centre-left: the Democratic Party has a plan for a social centre. It continues to lose moderates and pieces of moderatism and tries to stop this bleeding with proposals made in the laboratory and operations like that of Goffredo Bettini of another fake civic center”, he added.
The opposing voices of the opposition and the green light for the new Tuir
But within the opposition there are many who believe that proposing a patrimonial proposal is a mistake. «I will explain in a video why the patrimonial law makes no sense. Indeed: it is an own goal”, explained the former prime minister and leader of Italia viva, Matteo Renzi. «It’s the classic measure that is popular and works on social media. But governing a country is a more complicated activity than coming up with a slogan.”
Meanwhile, while assets are (still) being discussed, the Council of Ministers yesterday definitively approved the Consolidated law on income taxes (TUIR), «seventh of the eight measures to reorganize the Italian tax system envisaged by the tax reform», explained the Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance, Maurizio Leo. «The consolidated texts will guarantee citizens, businesses and professionals an organic, clear and modern framework of rules».
