The Italian government has upset and delighted its citizens in equal measure, by making public the wage and tax payments of its populace.
Scandalous isn’t it?
Italian PM, Silvio Berlusconi
Your answer will depend partly on what paper/website you read. If you want to make your own mind up then you’d better read the BBC News website’s article. This, I am reliably informed by my Sardinian flatmate, is the website Italians turn to for an unbiased, unedited round-up of the world’s comings and goings.
It’s easy to see why, being straight to the point – people are angry yet intrigued, it’s to tackle tax issues, the site’s now been suspended – without interspersing the author’s opinion. Ever diplomatic, it uses phrases such as “tax-shy.” “God damn” and “freeloaders” are not in the BBC lexicon.
But hang-on, I see what you’ve done there BBC! “Sour Grapes?” You’re insinuating the soon-to-depart Italian government did it out of spite. And what’s that? Is it a quote from a member of the British public disproving of the events?
At least when the Guardian nails its colours to a newstory it makes it obvious, ranting: “Critics condemned the publication saying it was an outrageous breach of privacy as the government did not have consent to make the information public. “It’s a clear violation of privacy law,” ADOC, the Italian consumer group, told Reuters. “There is a danger for an increase in crime and violence as the data are an irresistible source for criminals.”
The first half of the story was dedicated to pointing out the negatives before begrudgingly dedicating a paragraph or two to PM Prodi’s explanation, you know, for balance. Fair play to them, they did fit in early on a half sentence on the government’s reasoning; “Claiming it was part of a crackdown on tax evasion”, but how loaded a sentence is that? They might as well have replaced ‘claiming’ with ‘there excuse was’.
This is why I applaud the website MSN.com. It chooses to focus its attentions on whether we should follow in the Italian’s footsteps, as “it turns out [that] the case for transparency is compelling.” The website ways up the benefits of knowing what everyone earns (fairer pay for all) against the disadvantages (possible social embarrassment). It also looks at Norway, who has had a similarly open policy since 2002. Helpfully, to engage readers further, it encourages them to check how their own salaries match up with a link to a Trade Union Congress pay checker service.
Political commentator and staunch opposer of the Italian government, Beppe Grillo comments on the initiative with the insight of an actual citizen (victim?). He points to the rise it will lead to in kidnapping and ransoms, stating on his popular blog: “This is madness. Paying taxes like that is too dangerous. It would be better to have a conviction for tax evasion than to be knifed or kidnapped. The tax relationship is between the citizen and the State and it must remain like that.”
Yet it has still taken a regular man, not bound by as many rules and regulations to highlight in his blog the maddest part of the whole affair; that Deputy Economic Minister, Vincenzo Visco believes this is standard behaviour – because he’s seen it in American soaps.
Now, irrelevant of what you read, that is scandalous.
