The ICI Question

ICI, pronounced, approximately, ‘eechee’ is a little property tax which everybody in Italy who has a house is supposed to pay. It’s a funny little tax, and the local Milan council does not even bother to send out reminders. Unlike the in the UK, where a nice little bill will drop through your letter box announcing that you need to pay you glorious little council tax bill.

For some time now, Italian politicians have been making noises about abolishing this little tax, and, on the face of it, this looks to be no bad thing. Why? Well, in a recent article in Il Sole 24 Ore, there was a list of the average ICI payments which are supposed to be made.They ranged from around €400 to under €50.

This means, one suspects, that this little tax costs much more to administer than the income it’s supposed to be raising. Hence, again, one suspects, the keenness with with the politicos are going about having this tax ended.

Indeed, one call almost say that the politicians are itching to remove ICI. Ho ho.