Salvini exchanges barbs with tax agency chief

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 17 - Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini was engaged in an exchange of barbs with the head of Italy's tax agency on Monday linked to the League leader's call for an overhaul in the State's relationship with taxpayers.
    At the weekend Salvini called for a "great, definitive fiscal peace" to liberate "millions of Italians who have been held hostage for too many years by the inland revenue agency".
    The government is trying to install a 'fiscal peace' with taxpayers to end the current situation in which the authorities have a huge backlog tax disputes with millions of people worth many billion euros, much of which is unlikely to ever be collected.
    Opposition parties have criticised this approach, saying it risks helping tax evaders.
    On Monday inland revenue agency Director Ernesto Maria Ruffini said the fight against tax evasion is not driven by the desire to persecute.
    "It is a question of justice towards all those, and they are the vast majority, who pay their taxes year after year," Ruffini told a conference.
    Salvini defended his stance after Ruffini's comments.
    "Fiscal peace is advantageous for the State," he said.
    Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto, meanwhile, said an amnesty for some tax disputes was a possibility.
    Ex-premier and 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Giuseppe Conte accused the government of "inciting tax evasion". (ANSA).