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Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
Photo: GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE / REUTERS
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni apparently does not see much difference between tax claims against small businesses and the self-employed than the "pizzo" – the protection money of the Italian mafia. You have to fight tax evasion where it takes place: with the big companies, with the banks, not with the small businessman from whom state protection money is demanded," she said at a campaign event in the run-up to the local elections in Catania, Sicily.
The argument that small businesses should be protected from tax claims is not new to Italian politics. It is repeated again and again by Italy's center-right and right-wing parties when there is a dispute over tax policy. However, the fact that Meloni claims this as prime minister is controversial.
Criticism from the opposition
Opposition politician and economist Cecilia Guerra of the Social Democrats called Meloni's remarks "very serious", especially since the state was put on a par with the mafia. It is a message of legitimization of tax evasion, a behavior in which a part of Italian citizens does not contribute to the financing of public goods, although they benefit from them," Guerra said in an interview with La Repubblica.
The fact that Meloni drew the comparison in Catania, Sicily, of all places, also caused sharp criticism. Sicily is considered a stronghold of the mafia.
In Italy, tens of billions of euros in taxes are evaded every year. Since the Ministry of Finance published its estimates on the subject – starting in 2016 – the figure has rarely fallen below the 80 billion euro mark. The tax gap is particularly large when it comes to income tax for the self-employed and small businesses. Between 2018 and 2020, an average of 35 billion euros was evaded in this category, according to data from the Ministry of Finance.
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