Tourists in Italy are behaving badly this year. Here’s why:
Last year, the Italian government created and distributed a €50 million bonus to a handful of high earners. When the bonus was first offered, that was an extraordinary move.
It was also a major error. When you receive a €50 million bonus, you should be careful how you spend it. It turns out that the bonus is just a random bonus that the Italian government randomly gave out.
Instead of an investment in new infrastructure, a tax cut, or a tax rebate, the €50 million was spent on the top 10 percent of Italians living in Italy. That’s right, the bonus was targeted at the top 1 percent of Italians.
The top 10 percent of Italians make around 20 percent of Italy’s income. That means they alone made a massive one-time windfall of €50 million.
The top 1 percent make about 80 percent of Italy’s income. If they received the same windfall, they would each turn the money over $20 million. At the very least, it would buy a lot of fancy new clothing, some nice Italian shoes, and other items.
Instead, the top 1 percent received more than just a small windfall. They also received a huge windfall.
“We received a €50 million bonus, which we then spent on luxury items,” Luigi Di Domenico, a senior police official, told Reuters. “As a result, we have seen a rise in petty crime, including car theft, and an increase in sexual assault.”
Di Domenico, who has been a senior police official since 1979, said the Italians had not received their bonuses. He added that, “I don’t know who gave it to us.”
The bonus was distributed to police captains, judges, politicians, and public-service employees.
Many of those who received the bonus later told Reuters that the spending on Italian products was a result of a lack of trust in Italy’s police.
“It’s a sort of gift to the police, a recognition of all their hard work over the years,” police captain Carlo Piccirilli