
Italy proposes tax on savings hidden in safety deposit boxes - arto
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-politics-budget-idUSKCN1TD0G5
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tacone
Plain false, it's simply a fiscal reconciliation. If you evaded taxes, you may
admit it and pay a lower price.

It doesn't apply to legitimate savings.

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b_tterc_p
Am I correct in saying that another way to view this is a 15% fee to launder
all of your dirty money in a risk free, government endorsed way?

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dwighttk
Wow... the entire article is 4 sentences (each with their own paragraph).
Doesn't have a thing about how they plan on enforcing the tax.

15% > 0%.

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sokoloff
> Those who voluntarily declared their deposit-box holdings would be taxed at
> a low rate of about 15 percent, he added.

In what world is a _wealth_ tax of 15% a "low rate"?!

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kokojie
Some European country tax 90% of income...

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mrzool
Source? European, never heard of this. Though a 15% rate is pretty normal
around here.

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NightlyDev
Income tax? Sure. Wealth tax? No, of course not, then investments would
basically never be a good idea.

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fsilvestri
I believe this means that the 49M euros Lega has to re-pay back to Italian
Fiscal agency ([https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/06/italys-
league-...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/06/italys-league-may-
change-name-to-avoid-49m-bill)) are not stored in a safety deposit box.

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jermaustin1
How will they enforce this? Manually opening ever safety deposit box? I know
at my bank (probably all of them?), you need my key and the bank key to open a
box.

Are they going to request every single person go to their box, open it and
show it to the tax man?

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LannisterDebt
Are they going to give you advanced notice of these bank box inspections?
There's no way anyone would remove property to avoid a tax of course.

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dsfyu404ed
>There's no way anyone would remove property to avoid a tax of course.

I'm not sure if you're being facetious but people with something to hide will
just get a safe deposit box in another country. It's like a one day drive to
cover all of Italy and let's be honest here, most of the safe deposit boxes
that suddenly need emptying won't be in the south.

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jcranmer
> most of the safe deposit boxes that suddenly need emptying won't be in the
> south.

But aren't the powerful illicit crime organizations all in the south? Or are
all of the ill-gotten gains laundered elsewhere?

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scottmsul
I thought only income could be taxed? If you have valuables just sitting
there, how can they be taxed? Obviously if you sell them there might be
capital gains, but not before?

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tecleandor
This is income tax. They are talking about people with hidden/undeclared
income in safety boxes instead. It's an opportunity to legalize your money.
Quite a steal (ha!) mafia and tax evaders can legalize all their black money
paying a measly 15%, when regular workers probably have to pay more.

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tecleandor
Just to confirm, the first income tax bracket in Italy is 23%. Seems like it
really pays to be a tax evasor.

[https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/income-
taxe...](https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/income-taxes-
abroad/italy/index_en.htm)

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x38iq84n
... ... can you hear it? That is the sound of billions of EUR leaving Italy.
When will they learn?

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martin_a
Yes, Italy really has some weird political problems.

Alto Adige is extremly wealthy, so is the North of Italy, like north of
Milano, I think. Down south it all gets worse, I've heard. I wonder why wealth
and industrial power is so concentrated in the North.

For Germany this can be explained with bombings during WW2, which flattened
parts of Western Germany nearly completely while sparing the South, and with
the structural problems after splitting Germany.

But I think Italy wasn't bombed that heavily nor was it split at some time
like Germany.

Why can't they manage to distribute this wealth better and get their problems
in control?

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austhrow743
North/South divide predates ww2.

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martin_a
Thank you, I'll read up on this later.

