ROME – Fair criteria, insufficient resources. The self-employed people and VAT numbers welcomes with a sigh of relief the Sostegni Decree, just launched by the Council of Ministers, also because, as the president of Confprofessioni Gaetano Stella recalls, “for us professionals the last refreshment intervention arrived in May , and the decree just passed by the government provides that the next contribution will arrive no earlier than April: we have been “forgotten” for a year “. But in the face of so much waiting, and the squeeze of Covid since last October, the refreshments made available by the government appear to be a drop in the bucket: “The parameters for obtaining compensation are too selective, and the resources are insufficient. The hopes they are hanging on to vaccines but, in the meantime, businesses have no more reserves to go forward “, claims the president of Confcommercio Carlo Sangalli.
The losses are enormous: the latest calculation is that of Unimpresa, which estimates the total loss of turnover for companies and VAT numbers in Italy, over the course of 2020, at almost 320 billion euros. Overall, the contraction in collections it is 12.4%: the greatest decline was recorded for hotels, bars and restaurants (-40.3%), while it was 27.1% for the entertainment and sports sectors. In contrast, both the information and communication sector (+ 1.6%) and that of agriculture (+ 1.8%). In percentage terms, at a territorial level, Sardinia has had the greatest impact on its economy (-25.2%), followed by Friuli-Venezia Giulia (-20.3%), Valle d’Aosta (-17 , 4%) and Lazio (-16.3%). “The decree does not seem adequate either from the point of view of timing, because the funds will arrive at least in April, or from that of resources”, concludes Unimpresa.
Although in general the government’s choice not to refer to the Ateco codes, which in previous measures had caused unjustified exclusions of various production categories, and to refer to the overall losses of the period, and not of a single month, resources and tools is appreciated. used appear insufficient for all trade organizations. “With regard to refreshments to businesses, we appreciate the method applied by the government with the overcoming of the criterion of the Ateco codes, the attention to small businesses with the reshaping of the intensity of contributions, the rapidity of disbursement. However, the amount of resources to be allocated must be increased. to entrepreneurs, in particular for the sectors most affected, from fashion to wood-furniture to the tourism sector “, reaffirms the president of Confartigianato, Marco Granelli.
The new distribution criteria, then, although they all consider much more equitable than the previous ones, exclude a large slice of economic operators who have also suffered significant losses: Cna considers it unfair to have excluded those who “have suffered heavy falls in turnover even beyond below 30% and will not receive any refreshments. Cna therefore “renews the invitation to the government and the Parliament to introduce a decalage mechanism that provides for the progressive reduction of the contribution in relation to the turnover trend”, avoiding the “staircase” between who is above and who below 30%.
While waiting for more refreshments and non-repayable contributions, a second opportunity could have been given to subsidized loans to companies and VAT numbers, suggests Gaetano Stella. And then the self-employed look with some concern at the modalities of the contribution exemption: “The financial endowment of an additional 1.5 billion euros for the contribution exemption may not be sufficient to cover the current needs of the professionals enrolled in the private social security “, affirms the president of Confprofessioni, specifying that” it remains to be understood whether even the self-employed workers enrolled in the separate management of INPS who will receive the ISCRO will be exempt from the new contributions provided for by the 2021 Budget law “.
We therefore need more clarity on measures for the self-employed, but we also need other measures and other resources. Among the most critical organizations is Confesercenti, which estimates the share of coverage of losses suffered by companies due to Covid between 5 and 7 percent. Estimates similar to those of Fipe: according to the association, a restaurant that invoiced 550 thousand euros in 2019 and that in 2020, due to the more than 160 days of closure imposed by the containment measures of the Covid pandemic, has lost 165 thousand, will benefit from a contribution one-off fee of 5,500 euros, while a bar that invoiced 150,000 euros in 2019 and lost 25,000 due to restrictions, will be entitled to a bonus of 1,875 euros, 4.7% of the average monthly loss. For ANBC (National Association of Banqueting and Catering) “economic support is largely insufficient in the face of companies that have been stopped for 12 months and with turnover losses of 90%”. “Our companies – says the president, Paolo Capurro – need the rental tax credit to be extended for the whole of 2021, and the possibility of amortization over 15 years and 48 months is also applied for loans up to 800 thousand euros. of pre-amortization as already done for loans up to 30 thousand euros “.
However, everyone is asking the government to act quickly: the concern is that the timing of disbursement of the new contributions, already foreseen no earlier than April, may further postpone.
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