Renzi says 24% taxes on profits ahead

(ANSA) - Rome, July 28 - Premier Matteo Renzi said Tuesday that his government intends to bring in a tax rate of 24% on profits in 2017, to go with the combined reduction in the IRAP and IRES business taxes.
    Renzi told diplomats that said he intends to cut taxes by 50 billion euros over five years, including measures from 2014 that included a cut to the IRAP regional business tax.
    He said that means his country will no longer be a high-tax nation.
    "Italy has set in motion....a package of tax reduction measures...financed by the stability that has returned to Italy.
    "This, we intend to invest to demonstrate that Italy is no longer the country of taxes," said Renzi. The plan also includes last year's 80-euro monthly bonus, worth about 10 million euros, for Italy's lowest income earners and the five-billion euro reduction to the IRAP.
    Still ahead, Renzi said he intends next year to abolish two hated property taxes and in 2017 and 2018 continue personal income tax reductions.
    Meanwhile, Renzi told diplomats during their conference that he hoped Italy would succeed in its bid to gain a rotating seat at the UN Security Council in 2017-2018, and lobbied them for support.
    "I hope that next year we are celebrating...our election to the UN Security Council," he said. "It would be very positive, but we are not there yet".
    Renzi added that he hoped the ambassadors at the event "will feel this is a top priority".
    After all, said Renzi, Italy is a cultural "superpower" but its strengths are often overlooked in internal political debate.
    And he warned the conference of ambassadors that Europe lives with "daily attacks" on its values and threats against it community from terrorists.
    But that does not mean the fight against terrorism is a "clash of civilizations," added Renzi.
    Europe must also recognize that the Mediterranean must be at "the heart of European politics" and if Italian politicians have not made that clear to all of Europe, they must try harder.
    He added that Italy has "extraordinary strengths" that attract visitors, but its politicians waste too much time "whining" and this often "tends to overshadow" the country's strengths.
    Renzi said he was attempting to build on these strengths with a series of reforms.
    In fact, he said, Italy is now witnessing "a period of reforms that is unprecedented in the history of the country". He added: "there has never been...a period of reform so intense and deep as the one that Italy is living in today".
    "Italy will be "the leader in Europe and the world in 20 to 30 years," added the premier.
    "I think that Italy has an extraordinary future".