 in an effort to get more taxes out of the Italian consumer. Fair enough, but as the Bloomberg BusinessWeek story points out, most Italian landlords prefer to receive their rent in cash rather than—checks. What’s wrong with this picture? The "Pin It")
Technocrats Take a Step Back
Theodore Iacobuzio |Italian premier Mario Monti has decided to ban cash payments of more than €1,000 ($1,340) in an effort to get more taxes out of the Italian consumer. Fair enough, but as the Bloomberg BusinessWeek story points out, most Italian landlords prefer to receive their rent in cash rather than—checks.
What’s wrong with this picture?
The trick here would be to reform some of the Italian way with money—cash payments—but not all of it: Italians are prodigious savers (certainly a virtue everywhere), if down from the unbelievable 24.5% of 25 years ago; they (as individuals) don’t borrow beyond their means ; and they’re masters of the small to medium enterprise model (SME).
The crew in the Palazzo Chigi would do well to look at Argentina, where a very generous rebate program rewards consumers for using electronic payments—and puts enough tax dollars in the government’s coffers to more than pay for itself. And forget about checks.
Argentine VAT Rebate Program Boosts Electronic Payments at POS
Topics: Payments Strategy
