Il Rapporto 2007 analizza nella prima parte le politiche pubbliche adottate nel corso del 2006. Agli ambiti di intervento posti annualmente sotto osservazione (conti pubblici, fisco, previdenza e assistenza, sanità, federalismo fiscale, public utilities) viene quest'anno affiancato quello relativo alle politiche per la casa. Lo scenario che ne emerge è caratterizzato da tre elementi fondamentali: l'impostazione rigorista della manovra finanziaria 2007, il faticoso cammino delle riforme strutturali, il recente miglioramento del quadro macroeconomico e dei conti pubblici. La seconda parte è dedicata all'analisi di due aree di intervento dell'Unione europea in cui sono emerse tensioni con le scelte nazionali di politica economica: il controllo comunitario sugli aiuti di Stato e gli interventi, anche da parte della Corte di giustizia, in materia di armonizzazione fiscale.

THE ITALIAN PUBLIC FINANCE

2007 REPORT

The Report on the Italian Public Finance is an annual publication with a twofold aim: review and evaluation of the main public finance measures during the year in the first part, and a monographic in-depth analysis of a structural policy issue in the second part. The seven papers in the first part review the following areas: budgetary policies, taxation, social security, contrast to poverty and family aid, health, housing, fiscal federalism, public utilities and liberalization policies. The main underlying issues are the determinants of the unexpected positive increase of tax revenues, the enhanced fiscal responsibilities of different levels of government, the structural reforms under discussion. National economic policies are conditioned by European Union’s rules and by the increasing recognition of stronger competencies of sub-national governments as well. The six papers of the second part of the Report examine two aspects of the interactions between Eu, national and local policies. The first one relates to State aids, that are all policy measures taken by national governments in order to benefit specific firms or economic sectors so to violate competition rules. The papers examine how the Eu control on State aids has been interpreted and exercised, its impact on the Italian industrial policies and the problems it poses to the tax policies of the Italian Regions. The second aspect concerns tax harmonisation. In the field of direct taxation, the focus is on the main consequences on the Italian tax design following the rulings of the European Court of Justice aimed to remove discriminatory laws. In the field of harmonized indirect taxes, such as Vat and excises, it is analyzed how the existing differences across countries in the effective implementation of these taxes introduce deviation from neutrality and free competition.