Television yes, Cigarettes no – Sky: Violation Procedure –Italian Style

Guilio Tremonti

Minister Guilio Tremonti

”If the Italian authorities insist on not aligning the VAT aliquots on pay TV, the E.U. Commission will have to open a  violation procedure*” said a spokesman of the European Union.  A cry of alarm echoed throughout the peninsula and Minister Tremonti promptly  informed them: “ faced with a Community violation procedure, the solution could be only that of alignment.”

But there is another violation procedure against Italy, already under way; it is the one regarding the Minimum Price of cigarettes. Although the figures at stake are considerably higher than those of the VAT on television,  this E.U. warning has passed in the most absolute, total and rigorous silence of the government, of the opposition and of the information organs. The government disregards it completely and compliance is ignored. Read more »

The R.E.F. – Sponsored information

Carlo Dell'Aringa, President of the R.E.F. (Ricerche Economia Finanza)

Carlo Dell'Aringa, President of the R.E.F. (Ricerche Economia Finanza)

“The Tobacco Observatory is an initiative supported by British American Tobacco Italia; its purpose is to promote a picture of widespread and transparent knowledge on tobacco issues. In order to share this objective, the REF (Ricerche Ecomomia Finanza) is starting up the following publication”.

This would not be a problem if it were not for the fact that the AAMS (the Italian State Monopoly) takes this “widespread and transparent knowledge” to the Minister of the period, who says: “Bravi ragazzi, continuate cosi” (“Good boys, continue this way”).

A great number of documents that emerged during the many legal suits in the USA have shown how cigarette producers have been able to buy scientists and “respectable” institutions. Read more »

Botero yes, Philip Morris no

A chapter in the series “… everybody pays taxes!”   It is the turn of a great artist!

Fernando Botero - Escultura cartagena colombiaAfter Lele Mora, Valentino Rossi, Michael Shumacher, Mario Cipollini, Fabrizio Corona, Nina Morich, various footballers, TV showgirls and veterans of TV’s Isola dei Famosi… here is the latest big news, that recounts the intrepid struggle of the finance police - Guardia di Finanza - in the fight against tax evasion.

According to the attentive and vigilant investigators, the famous contemporary sculptor Fernando Botero owed seven million euro to the Italian revenue. The sculptor answered: “I don’t owe a single lire”.

But while the newspapers headlined the VIP tax evader of the day, no one mentioned the 95 billion euro in taxes that are missing on slot machines, or the 60 billion euro that Philip Morris has “forgotten” to pay for the last seven years. Read more »

Berluska like Bokassa

…but does the premier know what's gong on in his "company- state"? (Berlusconi loves to say that the efficiency of the state must be inspired by the efficiency of a company).

Berluska like BokassaImagine that Power steals and commits injustices and that the opposition, instead of standing up against the Power, goes out to club the people who are protesting.

This paradoxical scenario, that would have been a bit excessive even for the ambitions of a leader like Africa's Bokassa, took place right here in Italy, a nation that is a top member of the drawing room of modern democracies.

Let's imagine that foreign cigarette manufacturers, who own and dominate the Italian market, today, are the "power" and that the Italian State Monopoly - AAMS (Azienda Autonoma Monopoli di Stato), in its role as controller, represents the collectivity.

If Big Tobacco tries to act in its own interests with every means, the AAMS should watch over it to make sure that whatever happens complies with the laws and follows the rules. Read more »

The EU is preparing for the after "Minimum price"

If, on one hand, the European Union has established that the minimum price is illegal, supporting Yesmoke's thesis, on the other, the EU itself is undertaking action that will cancel out completely the effects of its abolition.

Laszlo Kovacs, European Commissioner for Taxation and the Customs Union

Laszlo Kovacs, European Commissioner for Taxation and the Customs Union

The European Union is a question mark. Why was it formed? What could be the purposes of a union of countries whose president was Romano Prodi, the man who condoned Philip Morris not only tens of billions of euro in tax evasion, but also pardoned all the criminal activities it had been carrying on for decades?

Who is there behind the European Union? One thing seems certain: the “European Home” is totally enslaved by some big corporations, and among them, there are the multinational tobacco manufacturers.

On the 16th of July of this year, Laszlo Kovacs, European Commissioner for Taxation and the Customs Union, in a press conference on “Changes in Tobacco Taxation”, presented a tax proposal that is absurd; it would give the single countries a totally free hand to determine their minimum excise duties. It appears aimed at favoring the interests of the tobacco multinationals. Read more »

The merry holidays of Giorgio Tino

When it's Yesmoke, the only manufacturer of cigarettes in Italy and the only cigarette maker that pays taxes in Italy, calling, Giorgio Tino, director of the Italian State Monopolies, famous for his illustrious parentage with the Antonio Maccanico family, has never been free to speak on the phone.

Giorgio Tino, General Manager of Italy's "Monopoli dello Stato"

Giorgio Tino, General Manager of Italy's “Monopoli dello Stato”

But when it's Rocco Terribilini, the manager of Philip Morris calling, he is always there and says to him "You are a real friend".

And when Francesco Valli, the number one of British American Tobacco calls, Giorgio Tino, being a serious person, and fair (for "par condicio), accepts the foreign multinational's invitation and happily sends his daughter to the Formula One Grand Prix in Barcelona.

The girl told her dad that she prefers to go on holiday with Philip Morris because the treatment is better; with BAT the last time, she didn't enjoy herself. Luckily, everything turns out perfectly: «Papà, è bellissimo. È a cinque stelle, nun poi capì» (Daddy, it's great. It's all five star, you can't imagine), says the maiden. Read more »

The Par Condicio of Big Tobacco

Banks and oil are targeted by Tremonti, but the new minister has forgotten cigarette manufacturers.

Italian ministers Tremonti and Visco

Italian ministers Tremonti and Visco

Out goes Visco, the Minister of the Economy of the center-left government of Romano Prodi, and in comes Tremonti, minister of Silvio Berlusconi's new center-right government, but for the pockets of the Italians, it doesn't look like there will be much change.

“It's the banks and the oil companies that will have to make the greatest sacrifices in this economic period that is not good”, declared the new minister on the 10th of May during the TV interview program “In Mezz'Ora" of Lucia Annunziata, broadcast on RaiTre. Read more »

Prodi - Nero!

Italy, Third World for legality.

Prodi - Nero!

“I welcome the conclusion of the negotiations of this important agreement. This agreement is to the advantage of the EU to protect its financial interests”…

It seems that in Nigeria, Philip Morris has left an unpaid bill of 44 billion dollars, and to avoid paying, the company refused to appear when summoned in court.

The Nigerian government wants to buy pages in Swiss newspapers, the country where Philip Morris has its headquarters, to “notify the summons through the press”.

In Italy, based on the sentence of the Italian Supreme Court of the 21st of December 2001, Philip Morris's total tax evasion amounts to 120 thousand billion old lire, equal to some 90 billion dollars. But here newspapers have never even published the news.

Moreover, thanks to an agreement between the European Union and Philip Morris, dated the 9th of July 2004, and signed by Romano Prodi, EU president at the time, the tobacco giant's “little debt” with Italy has been shelved and forgotten. Read more »

Yesmoke Tobacco S.p.A. © 2000-2012 | VAT IT-09159800011 | 100% Made in Italy | ISO 9001 | Legal information | Site map | RSS Feed | |

enesfritru