Italian ministers post salaries, assets online

22.02.2012

Italian ministers on Tuesday posted their salaries and assets online in an effort to boost transparency amid a crackdown on tax evasion.

The unelected government led by Prime Minister Mario Monti took over the reins of power in November after scandal and a financial crisis toppled Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government.

While Berlusconi was criticized for encouraging tax evasion by granting amnesties to transgressors who were required to pay only a nominal portion of the reported funds in taxes, Monti has unleashed the finance police with no promise of leniency.

Italy's tax police have identified 7,500 Italians who hid around 50 billion euros in taxable income in 2011, according to the country's tax police, the Guardia di Finanza Italy, while the European Union's fourth-richest country loses more than 120 billion euros in unpaid taxes every year, according to a tax collection agency.