Giulio Tremonti

Senator Giulio Tremonti
Tremonti at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
Minister of Economy and Finances
In office 8 May 2008 – 16 November 2011
Prime Minister	Silvio Berlusconi
Preceded by	Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa
Succeeded by	Mario Monti
In office 23 April 2005 – 17 May 2006
Prime Minister	Silvio Berlusconi
Preceded by	Domenico Siniscalco
Succeeded by	Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa
In office 10 June 2001 – 3 July 2004
Prime Minister	Silvio Berlusconi
Preceded by	Vincenzo Visco
Succeeded by	Silvio Berlusconi (Acting)
In office 10 May 1994 – 17 January 1995
Prime Minister	Silvio Berlusconi
Preceded by	Franco Gallo
Succeeded by	Augusto Fantozzi
Personal details
Born	(1947-08-18) 18 August 1947 Sondrio, Italy
Political party	Italian Socialist Party (1987–1993) Segni Pact (1993–1994) Forza Italia (1994–2009) The People of Freedom (2009–2013) Labour and Freedom List (2013) Independent (2014–present)
Alma mater	University of Pavia
Profession	Lawyer Law professor
Religion	Catholic Church

Giulio Tremonti (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒuːljo treˈmonti]) (born 18 August 1947) is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finances under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 2008 to 2011.

Biography

Tremonti is a full professor of law at the University of Pavia, Italy, and has been a visiting professor at the Institute of Comparative Law, Oxford. His particular fields of interest are fiscal and tributary law, as well as fiscal policies.

Born in Sondrio, Northern Lombardy, in a family of Venetian ancestry (from Lorenzago di Cadore, Northern Veneto), he was the man who facilitated the dialogue between billionaire entrepreneur/politician Silvio Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi, leader of the federalist Northern League and a friend of Tremonti's, leading to the formation of the center-right coalition House of Freedoms. Although a member of Forza Italia, on many issues he is closer to the League. In particular, he is a staunch political and fiscal federalist, supporting a federal reform of the Italian political system and more autonomy for Lombardy and Veneto, where he has his core supporters.

He first ran for the Italian Parliament in 1987 with the Italian Socialist Party. Elected for the first time in 1994 for the Pact for Italy, he switched his allegiance to center-right Forza Italia soon after the Parliament held session, and obtained the finances position in the first Berlusconi cabinet.

Tremonti again served as finances minister from 2001 to 2004^[1] when Berlusconi came back to power. He was compelled to resign after internal disputes about the economic situation of the country within the House of Freedoms, particularly with conservative National Alliance. In late 2005 he was then reappointed to the same position for a third time after his substitute Domenico Siniscalco resigned until the end of the Berlusconi III Cabinet. At the 2008 general elections Berlusconi came back to power with a large majority in the parliament and assigned Tremonti the Economics and Finances position. At the end of 2011, following some rumors Tremonti would close to leave Pdl and to adhere to the Northern League. On 5 September 2012 Tremonti announced that he was setting up his own political movement ahead of elections to be held by next spring, potentially siphoning support from Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party.

During his time in office, Tremonti made the first and biggest across the board Income tax cuts in Italy by introducing a No-Tax-Area (2003) and reducing the top marginal tax rate (2005). He also made a significant reduction in the Corporate tax rate (from 36% to 33% now down to 27.5%) and has abolished taxes on reinvested profits. He has also completely abolished all Donation taxes, Estate/Inheritance taxes (2001) and more importantly Property taxes on Housing/Real Estate (2008) at the national level (property continues to be taxed at the local level). Nevertheless, after these measures, the OECD stated in its latest (2007) report on Italy that "tax rates are high compared to other countries".^[2] He has been the promoter of the Global Legal Standards.

As an author, during his life Tremonti has written mostly on taxation and international trade. He expressed how high taxes are a drag for growth and how fiscal federalism can create territorial taxation competition between regions that can reduce the burden on families and workers. He has also been a critic of China's dumping trade policy that causes delocalization of jobs from Europe to Asia.^[3] Nevertheless, in 2009 he gave an important lecture at the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China.

He is currently chairman of the Aspen Institute Italia and a frequent guest columnist on the Corriere della Sera.

References

Books on Economics and Finances

• La fiera delle tasse ("The Tax Fair", 1991)
• Il federalismo fiscale ("Fiscal Federalism", 1994)
• Il fantasma della povertà ("The Phantom of Poverty", 1995)
• Le cento tasse degli italiani ("The Hundred Taxes of Italians", 1996, with G. Vitaletti)
• Lo Stato criminogeno ("The crime-generating State", 1997)
• Rischi fatali – L’Europa vecchia, la Cina, il mercatismo suicida: come reagire ("Fatal risks: Old Europe, China, the Suicidal Free Market Ideology: How to React", 2005)
• La paura e la speranza - Europa : la crisi globale che si avvicina e la via per superarla ("Fear and hope - Europe: crisis approaching and the way to overcome it", 2008)

External links

• University biography (Italian)
• 2001 Profile in Business Week
• BBC Report on his resignation in 2004
• Giulio Tremonti's Official Website

Berlusconi I Cabinet (1994–95)
Berlusconi Tatarella Maroni Comino Guidi Urbani Berlinguer Ferrara Speroni Martino Biondi Pagliarini Tremonti Dini Previti D'Onofrio Radice Poli Bortone Fiori Gnutti Costa Bernini Mastella Fisichella Matteoli Podestà

Berlusconi II Cabinet (2001–05)
Berlusconi Fini Follini La Loggia Pisanu Scajola Frattini Mazzella Baccini Stanca Tremaglia Prestigiacomo Buttiglione Bossi Calderoli Giovanardi Ruggiero Castelli Tremonti Siniscalco Marzano Moratti Maroni Martino Alemanno Lunardi Sirchia Urbani Gasparri Matteoli

Berlusconi III Cabinet (2005–06)
Berlusconi Fini Tremonti La Loggia Caldoro Baccini Stanca Tremaglia Prestigiacomo La Malfa Calderoli Giovanardi Micciché Pisanu Castelli Siniscalco Scajola Moratti Maroni Martino Alemanno Matteoli Lunardi Storace Buttiglione Landolfi

Berlusconi IV Cabinet (2008–11)
Berlusconi Tremonti Maroni Alfano Palma Frattini Sacconi Fazio Gelmini La Russa Scajola Romani Zaia Romano Prestigiacomo Matteoli Bondi Galan Bossi Ronchi Bernini Vito Brunetta Calderoli Fitto Meloni Carfagna Rotondi Brambilla Brancher