The Italian government will present 12 billion euros of tax cuts and measures by the end of this month to help industry, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has promised.
In remarks reported in the Italian press on Saturday, Berlusconi said the 12 billion euros would be divided evenly between tax cuts and incentives for firms to invest in research and development.
Berlusconi said the measures would be approved by the cabinet, which normally meets once a week, "either at the next meeting or the one after."
They would be presented as an amendment to the 2005 budget currently before parliament.
The 6 billion euros for companies would come from a fund, probably run by the state-controlled financing agency Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and financed by issuing covered bonds, Berlusconi was reported as saying in the financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore. Berlusconi also denied that the government planned to partly finance the tax cuts by raising taxation on government Treasury bills (BOTs) and bonds.
The Treasury had already twice denied that it was considering raising taxation of these instruments, but it had added that the final decision on how to finance the tax cuts would be decided by all ministers together.
In a separate interview on Saturday in La Repubblica daily, Berlusconi said the next priority for his government was "first of all" to push through parliament a reform of Italy's judicial system.
Comments
Comments are closed.