Budget committee OKs Lampedusa tax exemption extension

(ANSA) - Rome, December 16 - The Lower House budget committee on Wednesday approved a government amendment to its budget bill, extending to December 2016 a tax exemption for the Sicilian island of Lampedusa. The outlying island lies closer to Tunisia than Sicily, and bears the brunt of the rescue and reception of asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean in a bid to flee war and persecution in Africa and the Middle East.