MOST people agree that big piles of cash are nice things to have. But not everyone thinks it is good for a country if its citizens conduct their business with big piles of cash. Specifically, some Italians object to a move by the prime minister, Matteo Renzi, to triple the limit on cash transactions to €3,000 ($ 3,200). The existing ceiling was introduced in 2012, at the height of the euro crisis, when the European Union was pressing Italy to crack down on tax evasion. Since credit-card payments are easier to trace, the thinking went, a cash limit would force shopkeepers and others to declare more of their turnover. Mr Renzi has already raised from €50,000 to €150,000 the amount of tax that can be evaded without criminal sanctions. Both moves raise the question of what exactly Italy’s young prime minister, praised for his reformist agenda, is up to.
Mr Renzi’s critics, including some in his own centre-left Democratic Party (PD), accuse him of trying cynically to win support from small-business owners and the self-employed (including many doctors and lawyers), who have traditionally voted for the right. Unlike salaried employees of…
The Economist: Europe
