Boosting employment was one of the aims of the Italian government when this scheme was introduced. “There is a relatively large amount of work in the construction sector,” says Alberto Petrucci, professor of Economics at Luiss University in Rome. “If you stimulate it, unemployment will fall by itself.”
Moreover, the sector is driving the entire economy, says Petrucci. “During a recession, the construction sector is the first to lose its investments. When they increase, it has a stimulating effect.” A third advantage, he says, is that due to the strict government controls on the super bonus, construction companies now work illegally less often, so that more money ends up in the regular, legal economy.
Petrucci also points out the drawbacks of the super bonus. “The scheme favors people who own a lot of real estate, i.e. who have a high income anyway. Moreover, the scheme will be used more in richer regions than in poorer regions. The government has tried to build in corrections for this, but there are still aspects to take into account. to hold.”
Fraud risk
Another risk is fraud. In recent weeks, police officers from the Finance Police several fraudulent construction companies, who wanted to collect the tax credit for works that were not carried out. They had applied for hundreds of millions of tax credits.
Is there a risk that so much more European money will be misappropriated? Petrucci doesn’t think so. “If we add up the cases of fraud that have now been discovered, the percentages are very low.”
According to him, strict government controls on every construction project are essential. “Technicians check every step in the process. The plans, the works that have been carried out, the relationship between those works and the original plans.”
Because these checks are carried out by different ministries, the risk of fraudulent officials is limited, according to him. “The chance is almost zero, but only at the end of the ride. There are people who try, but they get caught. So some have already been caught.”
‘Money well spent’
Entrepreneur Adolfo Cicchetti is in any case using the scheme as intended. “When it’s finished, this will be L’Aquila’s safest building,” he says. In addition, the building will be virtually energy neutral.
Economist Petrucci thinks the super bonus is a good use of the European recovery money. “The goals of the super bonus are the goals of the recovery plan,” he says. “The fight against climate change, removing toxic substances, making buildings safer in earthquakes. If something like this happens again, our country should not spend money again. You spend money now to spend less tomorrow.”
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