Reuters When Prime Minister Mario Monti called on all Italians to make sacrifices to avert a Greek-style crisis, the political class that backs him in parliament wasn't listening. While most voters face higher taxes, stagnating wages and rising unemployment, Italy's army of politicians and senior officials are clinging to fat salaries that far outstrip those of their peers abroad. Monti, a technocrat who relies on party politicians to get his austerity policies through parliament, recently issued a decree which will prevent public servants earning more than US President Barack Obama. Many now earn considerably more. Ordinary Italians are paying the price for a decade of political stalemate, profligate spending and corruption. Monti, who made his appeal for sacrifices when he took office last year, has imposed an austerity package adding 24 billion euros to Italians' tax bills in 2012 alone. But Italy's wealthy, including its politicians and senior bureaucrats, are hardly carrying their share of the burden. “There has not been an equal distribution of sacrifices,” said Monica Montella, an economist at state statistics office ISTAT. “In proportion to their salaries, higher incomes are paying less.” Renzo Bossi, the 23-year-old son of a powerbroker, offers an example of how the political class enjoy the spoils of office. Renzo struggled to earn his high-school diploma and failed his final exam three times. But never mind — his father was Umberto Bossi, head of the Northern League until a funding scandal engulfed his party, and chief parliamentary ally of Monti's predecessor as premier, Silvio Berlusconi. Aged 21, Renzo Bossi became the youngest ever member of Lombardy's 80-strong regional assembly. This job in local politics earned him more than 150,000 euros a year ($196,200), 13 percent more than members of the US Congress made in 2011. “Elected politicians at all levels are paid more than those in America,” said Antonio Merlo, head of the University of Pennsylvania's economics department and co-author of the book “The Ruling Class”. Renzo resigned on Monday as the party became the focus of an embezzlement probe. He hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing. His case is just one of many, and some politicians feel free to let the state fund their private lives. In 2007, former justice minister Clemente Mastella took his son to see the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, just like many parents in Formula One-crazy Italy. Instead of driving or taking the train like everyone else, they went by state jet. The one-day plane ride from Salerno to Milan cost taxpayers 20,000 euros. Italy has almost 1,000 national lawmakers, twice the US number even though Italy has just a fifth of the population — and they earn more than their US counterparts and most of their European peers too. The majority have a base salary of 11,283 euros per month before tax, plus 3,503 euros for expenses which they do not have itemise. By contrast, the lowest-earning households are being hurt most by rising fuel, property and sales taxes. They live on less than 8,000 euros per year, or 667 euros per month, after taxes. Berlusconi, who was forced to make way for Monti last November, launched his own austerity drive even though he himself is a billionaire and led a life of legendary extravagance, including holding parties which have drawn charges that he paid for sex with an underage prostitute. Austerity drives are nothing new in Italy. In 1992, then Prime Minister Giuliano Amato asked Italian taxpayers to make “blood and tears” sacrifices following a currency crisis. Amato now enjoys two state pensions worth more than 31,000 euros a month, before taxes. Things are very different at the other end of the pay scale. In a study for economic think tank lavoce.info, ISTAT's Montella used Bank of Italy data to calculate that the poorest families already lost almost 12 percent of their real income between 2006 and 2010, more than double the national average. Unlike their leaders, ordinary Italian families are traditionally thrifty but austerity has forced them to change. Last year households saved only 12 percent of their gross income, the lowest level since 1995. And some are so desperate that they see suicide as their only option. In March, a Moroccan worker in Italy set himself on fire to protest against not having been paid for months, and an Italian businessman did the same over a tax dispute. The Moroccan survived but the businessman died. __
