Economics
Italy’s Love of Cash Is Tested by Conte’s Tax Capture Trick
- Consumers can win lottery while paying for groceries by card
- Italians have confounded previous attempts to shrink cash use
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Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is about to embark on the country’s most experimental stimulus of the coronavirus crisis yet in a bid to wean citizens off cash -- and the tax avoidance that comes with it.
His government is working on a measure to refund 10% of payment card transactions, handing back a maximum of 300 euros ($354) per person, in a stimulus that runs until 2022, according to officials with knowledge of the plan. As a sweetener, participating consumers will also qualify for a lottery with a prize pot totaling 300 million euros.