The proposal to use privatization proceeds in order to decrease public debt in Italy is criticized for several reasons. The Italian debt, now more than 133 per cent of the GDP is the outcome of fundamental fiscal unbalances, including large tax evasion. Without targeting such unbalances, the privatization proceeds will only contribute to delaying a fiscal crisis. Moreover, when a government sells its assets, it exchanges real or financial assets with cash, and the ratio Debt/Gdp is a poor indicator of the net wealth of the state. The possibility that selling government assets may create a demand side shock is unlikely. Eventually, given the difficulty to tax income in a country with large tax evasion, taxation of private wealth should be considered. Private wealth/Gdp per capita ratio in Italy is higher than in Germany and in several other developed countries, and is a symptom of the fiscal anomaly of the country, as this private wealth is the counterpart of public debt, tax evasion, tax elusion, corruption, and rent capture by some social groups.
