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Italy's shadow economy moves into political spotlight
Reuters ^ | November 23, 2011 | Deepa Babington

Posted on 11/23/2011 7:26:46 AM PST by decimon

NAPLES, Italy (Reuters) - In the busy Naples square where she works, 18-year-old Arianna is a familiar sight as she darts back and forth from a cafe bearing trays with espresso and pastries.

With a bright blue apron, lip stud and cheerful smile, she is known to all except the Italian taxman -- for whom the Neapolitan waitress has never existed and probably never will.

Paid 100 euros a week in cash, the high school dropout is one of hundreds of thousands toiling away in a parallel Italian economy where cash is king, contracts or receipts do not exist and the taxman is cut out of the equation altogether.

"Here in Naples, you've got to accept what you get," she said, recalling her start as an irregular worker in a bag factory where she was paid just 50 euros a week.

"They know you're young and need work, so they offer to pay you off the books without any benefits. I'm used to it by now. I don't really hope to ever get a job with a contract."

>

Sitting outside a cafe along one of the city's many narrow streets, 32-year-old Ivan, who like others interviewed for this article asked that his family name not be used, recounts how his entire 11-year career as a plumber has been off the books. Officially, he's unemployed.

Doing it that way was a no-brainer: getting a work license, giving up nearly half his take in taxes and keeping up with the mass of paperwork and bureaucracy required to stay legal would leave him with virtually nothing, he says.

>

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: europeanunion; italy
Taxes and regulation.
1 posted on 11/23/2011 7:26:50 AM PST by decimon
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To: decimon

Coming soon to a business near you.

If the Cretin-in-Chief’s taxes kick in...just wait.


2 posted on 11/23/2011 7:34:21 AM PST by Da Coyote (Liberalism - when you absolutely, positively have no ability to produce wealth.)
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To: Eric Blair 2084

Ping.


3 posted on 11/23/2011 7:34:33 AM PST by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: decimon

The future of the USA


4 posted on 11/23/2011 7:36:18 AM PST by RightGeek (FUBO and the donkey you rode in on)
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To: decimon
But Brussels has a plan to fix the problem....

EU wants more control of states' budgets

....and democracy is not included.

5 posted on 11/23/2011 7:41:14 AM PST by mewzilla (Forget a third party. We need a second one.)
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To: decimon

The employers have no incentive. All of these off the books workers were referring to being unable to get a contract. Well, once they have a contract, they cannot be fired. If they do get fired, they usually sue, and the worker wins 99% of the cases.


6 posted on 11/23/2011 7:49:25 AM PST by Explorer89 (And now, let the wild rumpus start!!)
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To: decimon
I'm seriously surprised that she hasn't been questioned by the Finance Police.

For those who are unaware, google it. They're a very real organization in Italy.
7 posted on 11/23/2011 7:50:33 AM PST by BikerJoe
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To: Da Coyote; RightGeek

I agree that the underground economy will increase in the US if we increase taxes and regulation. I think that a chart showing the underground economy in the the freest to the most controlled economies would show a direct relationship between increased control and increased cheating.


8 posted on 11/23/2011 8:00:07 AM PST by decimon
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To: decimon
Going Galt one try of espresso and pastries at a time. Keep taxes low and it isn't worth evading them. Make taxes too high and the smart and ambitious, the exact people who create the most wealth, simply evade them.
9 posted on 11/23/2011 8:05:07 AM PST by GonzoGOP (There are millions of paranoid people in the world and they are all out to get me.)
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To: Da Coyote

I’ve re-named the Cretin-In-Chief’s wife to Creature From The Black Lagoon since Wookie isn’t allowed anymore.


10 posted on 11/23/2011 8:08:31 AM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Explorer89

Italy is more Scoialist than anything. Due to recent changes (2008) the nuber of parites has decreased slightly - the the unserlying system is a nightmare.

Pary that it never get that bad here in the US...


11 posted on 11/23/2011 8:08:42 AM PST by ASOC (What are you doing now that Mexico has become OUR Chechnya?)
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To: BikerJoe

I’m seriously surprised that she hasn’t been questioned by the Finance Police

__________________

How is this different from the IRS?


12 posted on 11/23/2011 8:10:58 AM PST by Chickensoup (In the 20th century 200 million people were killed by their own governments.)
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To: decimon

one article about this says their underground econmy is 250 million euro a year. If only they has a 10% tax rate during the past four years the 100 million would be a big help on their debt payments - but they want a much higher rate, so folks cheat.


13 posted on 11/23/2011 8:11:48 AM PST by q_an_a (the more laws the less justice)
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To: Chickensoup
I’m seriously surprised that she hasn’t been questioned by the Finance Police __________________ How is this different from the IRS?

In Italy, the Finance Police can and do, among other things, perform surprise spot inspections on retail transactions. For instance, if you go to a restaurant, pay your bill and leave, it's legal for the finance police to stop you within 100 yds. of the restaurant and ask to see the receipt. If you don't have one, YOU AND THE RESTAURANT can be fined!
14 posted on 11/23/2011 8:24:48 AM PST by BikerJoe
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To: decimon
When taxes and regulations and employee benefits get entirely out of hand, it is as if “an invisible hand” starts moving people into the underground economy.

I hear in Canada, if you ask a contractor to build you a deck, he will often quote you two prices - a cheaper price “off the books” and a more expensive price “one the books”.

Laws passed to artificially prop up the marginally employable almost ALWAYS seem to kick them in the ass.

If they hired her they would have to pay her benefits, couldn't ever fire her, and she would have to pay taxes on her income and forgo her welfare/dole payments. So she works off the system - and despairs of ever having a ‘real’ job.

In the USA full time employees have a ton of benefits mandated by law. So many marginally employable people have to commute between two or three “part time” jobs - because nobody will offer them full time work - because then they would have to pay the benefits mandated by law.

When will advocates of State power catch on that most people will ALWAYS do what is in their own economic best interest?

15 posted on 11/23/2011 8:30:15 AM PST by allmendream (Tea Party did not send the GOP to D.C. to negotiate the terms of our surrender to socialism.)
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To: decimon

My very first job as a teenager, other than babysitting, was under the table as a hostess in a restaurant. The Waitresses split their tips with me and I made $1.79 an hour, tax and benefit free. To me, it was great money and I was glad to have the work.


16 posted on 11/23/2011 1:38:43 PM PST by ODC-GIRL (We live in interesting times)
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To: allmendream
When will advocates of State power catch on that most people will ALWAYS do what is in their own economic best interest?

Oh they know that. The issue is they're doing their damned level best to stamp that out. In the old USSR they simply killed you for it. That day isn't far off here anymore.

17 posted on 11/23/2011 1:46:05 PM PST by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: Lurker

Well the “powers that be” may well be aware of this, but obviously not the rank and file ‘well meaning’ liberals who insist that doubling the minimum wage and mandating break times and full insurance for all full time employees will most certainly NOT harm those who the legislation was designed to help.

But they are wrong. Such legislation always harms the marginally employable when they try to “improve” working conditions and pay.


18 posted on 11/23/2011 1:51:02 PM PST by allmendream (Tea Party did not send the GOP to D.C. to negotiate the terms of our surrender to socialism.)
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To: decimon; AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; ...

Thanks decimon.


19 posted on 11/25/2011 5:55:42 PM PST by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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