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Tax free shopping, what Minister Santanché doesn’t say

Tax free shopping, what Minister Santanché doesn't say

For the Minister of Tourism, Daniela Santanchè, is the consensus and applause of tourists more important or the applause of those operators who make a lot of money from tourist services? Arturo Aletti's letter

Dear director,

From the article I just read I notice that Daniela Santanché is desperately seeking consensus for the measures she promotes.

But for a Minister of Tourism, is the consensus and applause of tourists more important or the applause of those operators who make tons of money from tourist services?

I note first of all that the above article refers to the satisfaction with the provision that lowers the minimum purchase threshold for accessing the TaxFree/VAT Refund on shopping by non-EU tourists in Italy by the only two minor intermediaries in the sector, which cover 30/35% of business. Missing (at least in this article) is the praise of Global Blue, the main intermediary, with 65/70% of the refund volume.

I also note that the aforementioned are congratulated on the decisive increase in transactions and it could not be otherwise, given that the measure requested and obtained by the minister leaves the amount of refunds to tourists unchanged at 12-13%, when the prevailing VAT rate from refund is 22%.

However, it is not at all clear whether the provision has, in fact, produced greater sales in commercial establishments in our country.

Personally I don't believe this, as actual reimbursements of 12-13% are not such as to determine the desire to purchase in case of expenditure in the order of €70 – 80 – 100: that is, they are purchases that occur anyway and which, previously, they were not subject to TaxFree, whereas now they are and on which less VAT revenue is introduced for the State.

What would instead make tourists happy is the announcement (so far missed) of an increase in actual refunds compared to the VAT due, making tax-free shopping in Italy the most convenient (as well as most serious) in the world, an announcement that a minister of Truly competent and attentive tourism should do this especially on the eve of a possible increase in duties : then we would see a surge in purchases in Italy by tourists, especially US tourists and – I repeat – purchases, as well as TaxFree transactions, expressly made in commercial establishments in Italy, more than in France or Spain or other shopping destinations around the world.

But who makes Santanché understand this?

Thanks for your attention.

Arturo Aletti


This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/tax-free-shopping-cosa-non-dice-il-ministro-santanche/ on Mon, 03 Feb 2025 19:20:01 +0000.