“Cash is an instrument of civility and financial inclusion, especially for the weakest segments of the population. Being against the raising of the threshold for its circulation must be explained to the millions of Italians who use it and especially to those who do not have a current account. bank and a credit card, about 15 million to be trusted “. Ranieri Razzante does not mince words, professor of anti-money laundering legislation at the University of Bologna and one of the authors of the anti-money laundering regulations in force today. “Cash is delivered to us through the central banking system, and the Bank of Italy, four days ago, in one of its reports, noted a significant reduction in its use in the last three years – reminds Adnkronos – Recent studies of various nature, but always coming from financial institutions and research centers, testify to the so-called ‘overtaking’ of alternative instruments to cash compared to paper money. The sector and police authorities, in their reports, have signaled the alarm in the last five years for the use by organized crime of cryptocurrencies, crypto assets and the Dark Web to regulate illicit trafficking, as well as to launder the resulting money “. “I also like to remember that our civil code, never modified since 1942, establishes the obligation to settle financial obligations with the currency that is legal tender at the time of fulfillment, that is the euro for us. ‘welcome – he underlines – given that the progress achieved in the regulation of financial and monetary flows can only be greeted with satisfaction in terms of transparency and security for citizens. At the same time there is no doubt that the new frontier of economic crime is constituted by non-contextual, remote and sophisticated payments. This is obviously irreconcilable, if only for physical problems, with briefcases and bags of cash “. “It would therefore be enough to resort to official sources in order not to make a mistake in the calculations – the expert suggests – The undeclared certificate by Istat has not decreased due to the cash ceiling, and unfortunately this has never happened at least from 2000 onwards, despite the variations to the limit of circulation. It is therefore appropriate to raise it, perhaps not to € 10,000 but, more reasonably, to € 3,000, if only to allow payments and gifts, why not, to those citizens who still do not have alternative tools and who they don’t want to bear the costs. ” “On the habit of requesting receipts and invoices for payments made, a separate chapter should be opened, which has little impact on the type of payment method used. Tax evasion, at least in our country but also abroad, is it primarily carries out with corporate and fictitious commercial and industrial schemes, through payments through wire transfers and against invoices for non-existent transactions. To reach 150 billion in Italian tax evasion, I think it would take too much cash “, concludes Razzante.
