Italy consumer group seeks billions after tax-data publication

Italian consumer group Codacons demanded 20 billion euros ($31 billion) in damages on behalf of the nation's taxpayers after the Finance Ministry published 2005 income statements online.

A state regulator shut down the Finance Ministry's Web site after the tax statements had been available for less than 18 hours on April 30, saying the ministry violated privacy laws.

A Rome court is investigating whether the ministry broke any laws by publishing the data and has yet to file any charges. Codacons sent its demand that the state pay 520 euros to each of Italy's 38 million taxpayers to the prosecutor in charge of the probe.

“Whoever wants to put their nose in someone else's business must have a concrete and qualified interest,” Codacons President Carlo Rienzi said in a statement. “The generalized publication of everyone's tax statement on the Internet is certainly out of the question.”

Word spread quickly last week when the data became accessible. The Finance Ministry's Web site was bombarded as people sought to see what their neighbors, co-workers, favorite actors or sports heroes had declared as income in 2005. By 5 p.m. local time the ministry had stopped access to the data on orders from the privacy regulator.

That hasn't halted their distribution because many people were able to download all of the information before it was taken offline, and various Web sites now provide the income statements independently.

Codacons also asked that these Internet lists be “seized” and that the Web sites be shut down. Apart from the Rome court, Codacons made its appeal to the postal police and the privacy regulator.

Tax Evasion

Outgoing Deputy Finance Minister Vincenzo Visco, who was responsible for the publication, has defended the move as legal and a necessary step in fighting tax evasion.

Visco led Prime Minister Romano Prodi's crackdown on tax evasion, yielding 9.3 billion euros in extra revenue last year. Premier-elect Silvio Berlusconi has vowed to continue the fight against evaders, while at the same time saying repeatedly during his election campaign that Italians had the right to not pay because they are overtaxed.

(Published by Bloomberg 5, 2008)