Italy - New Government?

Italy may have a new government after M5S and LN appear to have signed a deal to form a coalition.

As mentioned in my previous post on the Italian election, both M5S and LN can be seen as anti-establishment.

M5S and LN would have 170 of the 315 Senators, a majority, and more importantly, 352 of the 630 seats in the lower house, a majority.

Currently, Italy has tax brackets of 23%, 27%, 38%, 41%, and 43%. The new coalition would reduce that to two brackets of 15% and 20%. This idea is not as radical as it may seem as Italy has a large number of tax"payers" who evade income taxes, and this may bring them into the system. Additionally, with a VAT (sales tax) of 22%, a lower share of revenue comes from income taxes than Canada. The parties explicitly plan to fund growth through a deficit.

Perhaps the most striking thing in the proposal is a plan for a sort of "Basic Income" that would see individuals get €780. Due to cost of living differences it can be difficult to translate the currency directly, but from what I can gather, this works out to about $1,200 or so Canadian every month.



I will update this with more as it comes. Additionally, I do plan on looking at results in Iraq, updating the situation in Japan, taking glances at East Timor, Venezuela, Ireland and Barbados.