Two months before the next hearing (15 May) of the legal action on taxation promoted by the I.P.R. F.T.T. and joined by the Free Trieste Movement, expectations for a great result are almost tangible among the more than 500 people and enterprises that, so far, joined the legal action versus the Italian Government to obtain the immediate re-establishment of the independent tax system of Trieste and of its international Free Port.
The legal action itself represents an obstacle that the Italian Government, administering authority of the Free Territory of Trieste, won’t easily surpass.
All people are becoming aware of this. The legal action, requesting to declare: “the consequent, absolute lack of any title of the Italian Government, of its bodies, or of any other subject delegated by it, to establish, collect, and forfeit taxes and other fiscal revenues in the present-day Free Territory of Trieste, the administration of which is entrusted to the responsibility of the Italian Government, and in the international Free Port of the Free Territory of Trieste, on behalf, in the name, and in the budget of the State or of territorial public bodies or other administrative authorities (including Province and Municipalities) and concessionaires of public services of the Italian Republic” is legally unassailable, as proved during the first hearing, in which, incredibly, the Italian Government, despising joining the proceeding, this not appear before Court with its lawyers, thus demonstrating its embarrassment.
And the same happened also with other public authorities summoned before Court (tax authorities: the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Tax Revenue Agency, the State Property Agency, and the Customs and Monopolies Agency) except for the INPS (Italian National Institute of Social Insurance), the only defendant to appear at the first hearing.
And all statements of defence they lodged were weak, from that of the Government to those of its representatives. It is defences that have already been disproved during the first hearing, and then with all successive acts lodged by the I.P.R. F.T.T. – including the latest expertise with which the Italian Government is called to comply with the responsibilities it avoided so far, for those are confirmed by the very Italian legal system.
And in two months, during what will be one of the most important, crowded, and decisive hearings that have ever taken place before the Court of Trieste, we’ll get to the end of this lawsuit, which represents, and not only for Trieste and its people, the day of truth and starting point to finally build a new future, no longer influences by the illegal taxes of the bordering Italian Republic.
In the meantime, as the hearing approaches, the very presence of Italian fiscal agencies becomes weaker, as some of their offices close. After the State Property Agency moving to Udine, it is time for the Customs and Monopolies Agency. Both are defendant in the legal action on taxation.
And, indeed, the very presence of Italian tax authorities that establish and collect taxes, duties, and excise taxes in the Free Territory of Trieste, or manage State Properties of the Free Territory of Trieste on behalf of the Italian Republic constitutes both a breach of the international obligations of the Italian Republic and of the Italian Government, as well as a brach of the very Italian laws that confirm those.
And this makes it easy understanding the embarrassment of who (the Italian Government) should explain to international observers why are offices of Italian tax authorise establishing and collecting taxes in Trieste on behalf and in the budgets of the Italian State instead of on behalf and in the budgets of the administered Free Territory of Trieste.
After the “retreat” of the State Property Agency and of the the Customs and Monopolies Agency, out of all agencies summoned in legal action 1757/17 only the Tax Revenue Agency and the INPS remain here in Trieste…
Translated from blog “Ambiente e Legalità” – “Environment and Legality” by Roberto Giurastante