In an interview on “In mezz’ora” on Rai 3, the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced the government has plans to lower the television licence fee, known as the “canone Rai”, commenting on current speculation that the fee would be included in everybody’s electricity bill.
The aim is to halt tax evasion, practised by 30% of households and representing a potential loss of €600 million. “In the Finance Act, we are reducing the licence fee and at the same time we are saying there will be a mechanism through which everyone has to pay it,” Renzi said, quoted in the newspaper Il Tempo. He added that “today it costs €130, next year it will cost €100. Thus honest people, who pay, will pay less.”
However the method is strongly criticized by consumer associations Adusbef and Federconsumatori because people without televisions would also have to pay the tax.
Source: liberoquotidiano.it, repubblica.it, lastampa.it and iltempo.it
