The Italian parliament has now approved the “Legge Delega,” the tax reform law granting special powers to the Government to introduce a series of measures within the next year. The Legge Delega sets out general reform principles, which are to be implemented within one year through a series of legislative decrees from the Government that will not require further parliamentary approval.
These decrees are to be drafted so as to rewrite Italy’s tax code to make it “more equitable, transparent and growth-oriented,” but also to be revenue-neutral.
The Legge Delega includes the possibility of new procedures between taxpayers and the tax authorities during assessment, and of a revision of the criminal and administrative penalties system concerning tax offenses. Another objective is that tax returns could be pre-completed for public employees and pensioners. The law also includes an instruction to reform cadastral property values, of importance for the proper incidence of local taxation, and envisages the introduction of “green” taxes. These taxes could be used to switch tax burdens away from employers and employees and on to environmental pollution.
