Giorgia Melonsi, Italy’s Prime Minister, indicated Sunday (4/12/12) that she may alter her plans to make it easier to settle small payments with cash after discussions with the European Commission.
Right-wing Meloni’s government presented the budget for 2023, which eliminates fines for retailers refusing cards for payments below EUR60. This move was criticized by some as being contrary to the spirit and commitments made with the EU.
“We don’t intend to allow retailers to accept electronic payments until EUR60,” Meloni stated in a Facebook video. Meloni stated on Facebook that the threshold of EUR60 was indicative. It could be even lower, according to me.
She said that there were discussions with the European Commission on the matter. “The issue of electronic payments is one of the [EU recovery plan]’s problems, so we need to wait, and we’ll see how the discussions end.”
It is the biggest recipient of EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund. It will receive around EUR200 billion by 2026. It must also meet several reform milestones.
One of them was the imposition sanctions on retailers refusing to pay their cards bills. This was part of the tax-evasion measures.
Meloni stated that making it easier to pay cash was not a strategy to reduce tax dodging which is a problem in Italy. More than 100 million euros worth of tax is evaded each year, according to Treasury data.
Similar sentiments were expressed about another controversial proposal included in the draft budget. This raises the cash payment limit to EUR5,000, from EUR1,000 currently. This change will take effect on January 1, 2023.
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