Italian Residents Resist Bureaucrats' ‘Rain Tax’

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

02 October 2008

Authorities in Ravenna, Italy, have caused uproar by imposing a thinly veiled 3% increase – or ‘rain tax’ – on local water bills.

The latest move is a bid to maintain and improve drainage systems following torrential downpours.

Defending its position and countering local objections, officials cite the severe damage inflicted by the heavy rain on infrastructure, buildings and agriculture in the Po valley, insisting that this money urgently needs to be recouped.

Indeed, the local water board claims the new levy will save EUR1m per year, and is eager to backdate the tax three years.

Gianluca Dradi, head of environmental policy for the Ravenna city council, likened the levy to a street cleaning tax and clarified that those paying more for their water use, such as factories, will pay proportionately more than individual households.

However, consumer organisations are opposing the move, and residents have been urged to defy the authorities and refuse to pay the tax – perhaps not surprising in a country where tax evasion is almost regarded as a national sport.

Ravenna, in the Emilia Romagna region in the North East of Italy, is connected to the Adriatic by a canal which flooded in 1636. A network of canals was built subsequently to divert nearby rivers and drain marshland, creating a protective belt of agricultural land around the city.

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