iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
Tens of thousands lined the streets of capital Dili, waving Vatican-coloured flags and umbrellas while screaming as the 87-year-old was driven through the streets flanked by security
KT APPDOWNLOAD
Italy doubles billionaires' 'flat tax', decries tax havens
Italy is expected to become the new home of wealthy 'non dom' British residents looking to preserve offshore income from higher taxation
Italy's decision could make a small contribution to Rome' public finances as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni prepares a 2025 budget aimed at narrowing the country's wide fiscal gap. — AFP file
Italy's government approved a measure on Wednesday that doubles to 200,000 euros ($218,220) per year a "flat tax" applied on income earned abroad by wealthy individuals who transfer their tax residence to the country.
The favourable tax regime for rich new residents was introduced by a centre-left government in 2017, with a view to luring ultra-high spenders to boost Italy's sluggish economy.
The scheme, which Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said had prompted 1,186 relocations to the country so far, has been under particular scrutiny since Britain's decision to end its centuries-old regime for non domiciled ('non dom') residents.
Britain's previous conservative government decided to abolish the 'non dom' regime after April 2025.
Giorgetti told reporters Italy was now against the idea of countries competing with each other to offer "fiscal favours" to the wealthy.
"Like we said at G20 and G7 meetings, we're against engaging in a competition with other countries to create tax havens for people or companies. A country such as Italy, with limited fiscal room, can only lose such a competition," he said.
Tax advisers said Italy is expected to become the new home of many wealthy 'non dom' British residents looking to preserve their offshore income from higher taxation.
"We are working with a number of clients who are considering relocating from the UK to Italy for tax reasons," said Vito Di Pede, a tax adviser at Milan's Studio Rock tax and law firm.
Italy's decision could make a small contribution to Rome' public finances as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni prepares a 2025 budget aimed at narrowing the country's wide fiscal gap.
The doubling of the flat tax will only apply to people signing up to the option in the future, the decree spells out, sparing those who have already moved their tax residency to Italy.
One high profile beneficiary of the scheme was Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, who became an Italian tax resident when he played for Juventus between 2018-2021.
Italy's audit court has estimated that between 2018 and 2022 taxes paid under the scheme amounted to 254 million euros.
The EU criticised the measure as unjust and detrimental to state accounts.
"The high-net-worth individuals regimes of Greece and Italy are ... the most harmful because they offer large exemptions to extremely rich individuals", the bloc's Tax Observatory said in its Global Tax Evasion Report this year.
More news from World
More than 600 people were killed in the weeks leading up to Hasina's ouster, according to a preliminary United Nations report
Some 1.5 million people were still without electricity on Monday and a major bridge across the swollen and fast-moving Red River collapsed in northern Phu Tho province
The attack also wounded at least 15 others
The protests started across Japan, Australia, Taiwan and Singapore, before spreading to cities in several European countries and to the US
The patient has been isolated in a hospital and is in a stable condition, according to the health ministry
The 87-year-old pope is visiting Papua New Guinea as part of his ambitious 12-day, four-country tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania, the longest of his 11-year-old papacy
Authorities were searching for Joseph Couch, considered a person of interest in the shooting that temporarily closed I-75 in both directions