Abstract

The effectiveness of policies of «tax advantages» in Italian weak areas' favour has to be evaluated taking into account the general framework of law on «fiscal federalism». Within such a framework, income tax is prevalent: the territorial distribution of this tax revenue depends largely on the amount of taxpayers, compared to residents, which is over 70% in Italy's strong areas, whereas it doesn't reach 60% in weak ones. Within such a context, interventions for «advantages » policies show an initial handicap, since the lowest revenue, not fairly counterbalanced by equalizing mechanisms, prejudices services level. In this paper we raise the following issue: if the «reason» of mechanisms under discussion, as they are prefigured by law, is development, it is then necessary, on the one hand, that they are strongly selective, on the other hand, that the mechanisms themselves are defined within a «reasoning» (for a hypothetical planning) allowing, for instance, to clearly distinguish between «compensating taxation», «tax advantages» and «development taxation». A not clear definition of aims pursued endangers, in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, the interventions proposed.