Jail for big tax dodgers crux for M5S

(ANSA) - Rome, October 22 - Setting jail terms for big tax dodgers in the 2020 budget is a "cultural crux" for the ruling anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), M5S leader and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Tuesday.
    "We didn't want to cause a row in the last few days but there was the question of sending a cultural signal, we have always said that you don't fight tax evasion by picking on small tax evaders," he said.
    "The M5S couldn't allow (the government) to carry forward measures, perhaps fair, on the small dodgers and then give up on prosecuting the big, untouchable ones".
    The government agreed overnight that tax evasion over 100,000 euros could lead to prison terms of up to eight years.
    The government is still putting the final touches to the 2020 budget bill.