'American on labor, Italian on taxes' says Bersani

(ANSA) - Rome, January 8 - Premier Matteo Renzi's policies are hard on workers and soft on tax dodgers, former Democratic Party (PD) chief Pier Luigi Bersani said Thursday.
    "We're doing it the American way as far as workers and the Italian way as far as tax evasion," Bersani, a former premier and a staunch critic of PD colleague Renzi, told LA7 private broadcaster L'Aria Che Tira economic news program.
    Bersani resigned as premier after he failed to create a coalition government following February 2013's inconclusive general election. He has been an outspoken critic of Renzi's Jobs Act, which he says penalizes workers by removing key protections while failing to combat Italy's rising unemployment rate. He also blasted the premier over a controversial tax measure approved by cabinet December 24, which he says basically allows the wealthiest to cheat the tax man the most. The controversial measure, called Article 19-bis and promptly dubbed by pundits as a Save-Berlusconi clause, would depenalize tax evasion when the evaded sum does not exceed 3% of declared income.
    The clause caused an uproar because it raised suspicions that former center-right premier Silvio Berlusconi could use it to avoid the consequences of a 2013 tax-fraud conviction and subsequent ban from public office. "The clause says if you declare one million euros, you can dodge up to 30,000 euros, including by issuing false invoices," Bersani said. "With this 3% (clause), Renzi has sent a message to a certain part of Italy," he went on. "In this country, being soft on the tax issue is like giving an alcoholic a drink - if we don't straighten this out, we will never have money for investments".