Bank warns TASI could lead to 60% tax boost

(ANSA) - Rome, May 30 - If a new property tax dubbed the TASI is increased to a proposed rate of 2.5 per thousand in 2014, the levy on first homes would represent the equivalent of a 60% increase over a similar tax rate in 2013, the Bank of Italy said Friday.
    The latest research on the tax suggests that if the rate remains at one per thousand, the increase over 2013 levels would be about 12%, said the central bank.
    An increase to 2.5 per thousand would make the TASI's income roughly equivalent to that of the hated IMU property tax put in place in 2012, said the bank, which analyzed rates in major Italian cities.
    "If each capital (city) applied a rate equal to 2.5 per thousand, the total levy would increase by more than 60%," said the bank in its research.
    The TASI was developed last year as a response to outrage over the IMU and is designed to affect both primary and secondary homes as well as being tied to other local levies such as garbage taxes.
    Then-premier Enrico Letta was forced by the ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's political party to eliminate the IMU on principal residences in 2013.
    It was replaced by the TASI, with a rate to be set by local governments that are hungry for cash and can choose to add an additional 0.8 points to reach 3.3 per thousand. Last week, an official in the Italian municipalities organization said that the TASI was being deferred in cities that fail to establish local rates in time for payment in June.
    Implementation of the TASI created a storm in January after consumer group Codacons claimed that it would cost families more than the contentious IMU.