- Maneuver, unique card study and VAT discount for ATM users
- Maneuver: between tight deadlines, tax wedge and fight against tax evasion. Monday 30 in the Council of Ministers
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September 29, 2019Complimentary exchange between more VAT and less tax wedge? It is not what is needed. Confcommercio rejects the hypothesis of VAT increase with the use of differentiated rates: higher for those who pay in cash, lower for those who use credit or debit cards. In a note, the trade association states: "Really deserves to be carefully considered the holding of the legal basis of a taxation at different rates according to the different means of payment (electronic money or legal currency in the form of paper money or of metallic currency) used for the purchase of the same products or services ".Negative effects
In addition to the legal aspects, Confcommercio also notes negative repercussions for families: "As for the effects of such a technique, it is necessary to move from reality data and, first of all, from the observation that, to date, payments by card represent, in value, no more than 35% of household spending ". Moreover, the measures would lead to few practical results, the note states, which underlines: "On an overall level, it would seem that the operation should contribute to an increase in VAT revenue by about 5 billion euros. It would be frankly difficult, then, to catalog a similar architecture in the category of 'modulations with benefit for Italians' mentioned by the President Conte ".
Low incomes penalized
"Rather - concludes Confcommercio - it seems that a compensatory exchange between more VAT and less tax wedge is taking shape. It is not what is needed: zero growth and winds of recession require a net reduction in the overall tax burden". In conclusion, the association is asked, "to whom would it benefit if, in the exchange between more indirect taxes and less direct taxes, to pay more would be the lowest income levels?".