Giulio Tremonti

{{short description|Italian politician (born 1947)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Giulio Tremonti

| image = GiulioTremonti2018 (cropped).jpg

| caption =

| office = Minister of Economy and Finance

| primeminister = Silvio Berlusconi

| term_start = 8 May 2008

| term_end = 16 November 2011

| predecessor = Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa

| successor = Mario Monti

| primeminister2 = Silvio Berlusconi

| term_start2 = 22 September 2005

| term_end2 = 17 May 2006

| predecessor2 = Domenico Siniscalco

| successor2 = Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa

| primeminister3 = Silvio Berlusconi

| term_start3 = 11 June 2001

| term_end3 = 3 July 2004

| predecessor3 = Vincenzo Visco (Treasury and Budget)
Ottaviano Del Turco (Finance)

| successor3 = Domenico Siniscalco

| office4 = Deputy Prime Minister of Italy

| term_start4 = 23 April 2005

| term_end4 = 8 May 2006

| primeminister4 = Silvio Berlusconi

| alongside4 = Gianfranco Fini

| predecessor4 = Gianfranco Fini

| successor4 = Massimo D'Alema
Francesco Rutelli

| office5 = Minister of Finance

| primeminister5 = Silvio Berlusconi

| term_start5 = 10 May 1994

| term_end5 = 17 January 1995

| predecessor5 = Franco Gallo

| successor5 = Augusto Fantozzi

| office6 = Member of the Chamber of Deputies

| term_start6 = 13 October 2022

| term_end6 =

| constituency6 = Lombardy

| term_start7 = 15 April 1994

| term_end7 = 14 March 2013

| constituency7 = Lombardy (1994–2001)
Veneto (2001–2006)
Calabria (2006–2008)
Lombardy (2008–2013)

| office8 = Member of the Senate of the Republic

| term_start8 = 15 March 2013

| term_end8 = 22 March 2018

| constituency8 = Lombardy

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1947|8|18|df=y}}

| birth_place = Sondrio, Italy

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = FdI (since 2022)

| otherparty = PSI (1987–1993)
PS (1993–1994)
FI (1994–2009)
PdL (2009–2012)
3L (2012–2013)
Renaissance (2017–2018)

| height = {{convert|1.73|m|ftin|abbr=on}}

| alma_mater = University of Pavia

| profession = Lawyer
Tax advisor

}}

Giulio Tremonti ({{IPA|it|ˈdʒuːljo treˈmonti}}; born 18 August 1947) is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finance under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 2008 to 2011.

Early life

Tremonti was born in Sondrio, Northern Lombardy, in a family of Venetian and Campanian ancestry (his father was from Lorenzago di Cadore, in the Province of Belluno, and his mother from Benevento). He 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.

Political career

Tremonti 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 {{lang|it|Forza Italia|italic=no}}, 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 (PSI).

=Minister of Finance=

Elected for the first time in 1994 for the Pact for Italy, he switched his allegiance to center-right {{Lang|it|Forza Italia|italic=no}} soon after the Parliament held session, and obtained the finances position in the first Berlusconi cabinet.

Tremonti again served as finance minister starting in 2001, when Berlusconi came back to power. He was compelled to resign on 3 July 2004, after internal disputes about the economic situation of the country within the House of Freedoms, particularly with conservative National Alliance.{{cite web |last1=Sylvers |first1=Eric |title=Berlusconi seeks new economy minister : Hole in Italy's cabinet |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/05/business/worldbusiness/IHT-berlusconi-seeks-new-economy-minister-hole-in.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=14 June 2020 |date=5 July 2004}} In late 2005 he was then reappointed to the same position for the 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 rumours 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 syphoning 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%, then further down to 27.5%) and has abolished taxes on reinvested profits. He has also completely abolished all donation taxes, estate/inheritance taxes (2001), and 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".{{cite web|url=http://www.oecd.org/LongAbstract/0,3425,en_33873108_33873516_38698716_1_1_1_1,00.html |title=Economic Survey of Italy 2007|publisher=OECD|date=4 June 2007|access-date=10 July 2011}} He has been the promoter of the Global Legal Standards.

From 2008 until 2009, Tremonti was a member of the High Level Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems, co-chaired by Gordon Brown and Robert Zoellick.[https://www.who.int/pmnch/media/news/2009/hltfh_report/en/ High Level Taskforce on International Innovative Financing for Health Systems: Report released] WHO, press release of May 29, 2009.

Other activities

As an author, during his life, Tremonti has written mostly on taxation and international trade. He expressed how high taxes are a drag on 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."Tremonti was always fairly suspicious of globalization, once remarking that Europe would end up in the pot of a Chinese cook if it wasn’t careful." Tony Barber, Financial Times, 2008 Nevertheless, he gave an important lecture at the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party in 2009.

He is currently a member of the Italy-USA Foundation, chairman of the Aspen Institute Italia and a frequent guest columnist on the Corriere della Sera.

As of September 2020, he is a member of the Italian Aspen Institute.[https://www.aspeninstitute.it/istituto/comunita-aspen/comitato-esecutivo executive Committee] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101009043826/https://www.aspeninstitute.it/istituto/comunita-aspen/comitato-esecutivo |date=2010-10-09 }}, aspeninstitute.it/

Electoral history

class=wikitable style="width:60%; border:1px #AAAAFF solid"
width=12%|Election

! width=20%|House

! width=15%|Constituency

! width=5% colspan="2"|Party

! width=10%|Votes

! width=16%|Result

! width=7%|Notes

1983

| Chamber of Deputies

| Milan–Pavia

| bgcolor="{{party color|Italian Socialist Party}}" |

| PSI

| 332

| {{cross|15}} Not elected

| [https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=26/06/1983&tpa=I&tpe=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&levsut1=1&es0=S&es1=S&ms=S&ne1=4&lev1=4]

rowspan=2|1994

| rowspan=2|Chamber of Deputies

| Sondrio

| rowspan=2 bgcolor="{{party color|Pact for Italy}}" |

| rowspan=2|PS

| 18,878

| {{cross|15}} Not elected

| [https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=27/03/1994&tpa=I&tpe=L&lev0=0&levsut0=0&lev1=4&levsut1=1&levsut2=2&ne1=4&es0=S&es1=S&es2=S&ms=S&ne2=413&lev2=13&unipro=uni]

Lombardy 1

| –{{efn|name=closed|Elected in a closed list proportional representation system.}}

| {{tick|15px}} Elected

| [https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=27/03/1994&tpa=I&tpe=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&levsut1=1&es0=S&es1=S&ms=S&ne1=3&lev1=3]

rowspan=2|1996

| rowspan=2|Chamber of Deputies

| Belluno

| rowspan=2 bgcolor="{{party color|Forza Italia}}" |

| rowspan=2|FI

| 24,163

| {{cross|15}} Not elected

| [https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=21/04/1996&tpa=I&tpe=L&lev0=0&levsut0=0&lev1=8&levsut1=1&levsut2=2&ne1=8&es0=S&es1=S&es2=S&ms=S&ne2=813&lev2=13&unipro=uni]

Lombardy 2

| –{{efn|name=closed|Elected in a closed list proportional representation system.}}

| {{tick|15px}} Elected

| [https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=21/04/1996&tpa=I&tpe=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&levsut1=1&es0=S&es1=S&ms=S&ne1=4&lev1=4]

2001

| Chamber of Deputies

| Veneto 1

| bgcolor="{{party color|Forza Italia}}" |

| FI

| –{{efn|name=closed|Elected in a closed list proportional representation system.}}

| {{tick|15px}} Elected

| [https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=13/05/2001&tpa=I&tpe=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&levsut1=1&es0=S&es1=S&ms=S&ne1=7&lev1=7]

2006

| Chamber of Deputies

| Calabria

| bgcolor="{{party color|Forza Italia}}" |

| FI

| –{{efn|name=closed|Elected in a closed list proportional representation system.}}

| {{tick|15px}} Elected

| [https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=09/04/2006&tpa=I&tpe=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&levsut1=1&es0=S&es1=S&ms=S&ne1=23&lev1=23]

2008

| Chamber of Deputies

| Lombardy 2

| bgcolor="{{party color|The People of Freedom}}" |

| PdL

| –{{efn|name=closed|Elected in a closed list proportional representation system.}}

| {{tick|15px}} Elected

| [https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=13/04/2008&tpa=I&tpe=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&levsut1=1&es0=S&es1=S&ms=S&ne1=4&lev1=4]

2013

| Senate of the Republic

| Lombardy

| bgcolor="{{party color|Lega Nord}}" |

| LN

| –{{efn|name=closed}}

| {{tick|15px}} Elected

| [https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=S&dtel=24/02/2013&tpa=I&tpe=R&lev0=0&levsut0=0&levsut1=1&es0=S&es1=S&ms=S&ne1=3&lev1=3]

rowspan=2|2022

| rowspan=2|Chamber of Deputies

| Milan–Buenos Aires–Venezia

| rowspan=2 bgcolor="{{party color|Brothers of Italy}}" |

| rowspan=2|FdI

| 71,902

| {{cross|15}} Not elected

| [https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=25/09/2022&tpa=I&tpe=L&lev0=0&levsut0=0&lev1=3&levsut1=1&lev2=1&levsut2=2&levsut3=3&ne1=3&ne2=31&es0=S&es1=S&es2=S&es3=S&ms=S&ne3=315&lev3=5]

Lombardy 1

| –{{efn|name=closed|Elected in a closed list proportional representation system.}}

| {{tick|15px}} Elected

| [https://elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=25/09/2022&tpa=I&tpe=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&levsut1=1&es0=S&es1=S&ms=S&ne1=3&lev1=3]

;Notes

{{Noteslist}}

References

{{Reflist}}

Books on economics and finances

  • La fiera delle tasse ("The Tax Fair", 1991) {{ISBN|978-88-15-03334-5}}
  • Il federalismo fiscale ("Fiscal Federalism", 1994)
  • Il fantasma della povertà ("The Phantom of Poverty", 1995) {{ISBN|978-88-04-40066-0}}
  • Le cento tasse degli italiani ("The Hundred Taxes of Italians", 1996, with G. Vitaletti)
  • Lo Stato criminogeno ("The crime-generating State", 1997) {{ISBN|978-88-420-5298-2}}
  • 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) {{ISBN|978-88-04-55011-2}}
  • 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) {{ISBN|978-88-04-58066-9}}