Fight tax evasion to lower taxes Conte tells unions

(ANSA) - Rome, October 7 - Premier Giuseppe Conte told Italy's trade unions Monday that the government would fight tax evasion in order to be able to cut taxes in the 2020 budget bill which is currently being drafted.
    He said the budget would introduce the principle of "everyone pays (taxes) so that everyone can pay less".
    "This will be funded by a major plan to fight tax evasion which will enable us to effectively reduce the tax burden," Conte told CGIL, CISL and UIL.
    Among the other budget priorities listed by the premier were: a "plan to relaunch the Mezzogiorno; the definition of a new agenda to invest in innovation and environmental sustainability; and, last but not least, bolstering measures to boost safety in the workplace".
    One of the budget bill's main planks, Conte said, would be a cut to the labour tax wedge.
    This would be added to the nixing of a VAT hike which was scheduled to kick in at the start of the year, the premier told CGIL, CISL and UIL.
    There would be other measures to "boost household income," the premier told the unions.
    As well as safeguarding the "solidity" of public accounts, Conte said, the government would do all that it could to "unblock Investments".
    "The international economic picture is still difficult, the tariff war and trade tensions are by now for us a very present issue," he added.
    "In framing the budget bill, while safeguarding the solidity of public accounts, we have tried to be as expansionary as possible in this context.
    "Another direction of the government is that of unblocking investments and accelerating spending on this front".
    Italy has been emerging from a triple-dip recession but there are signs that it may be heading back into one instead.