Montichiari has a beautiful park...well, several, but the one in the center of town is the best. It's got a great play area for the kids, lots of green lawns on rolling hills, and a little cafè hut in the middle.
I went with the dog today at noon, and there was not ONE SINGLE ITALIAN in the park. The foreigners have taken it over, but I'm not saying that in a bad way. They bring their children to play, and they sit and visit on the grass. They don't cause disturbances or anything, for the most part. If it's just the moms it's pretty much ok.
But the Italians have silently chosen to stay away, as to not mingle with these people they don't want in their town. So the more foreigners come, the more the Italians stay away.
The problem starts in the evening when the cafè turns into a bar and alcohol is served, and the husbands of the moms who were at the park earlier with their kids come and start drinking. It's mainly the Romanians, Russians and Albanians who drink. But I see more and more Northern Africans (Tunisians, Moroccans and Algerians) who are getting drunk. I've not noticed any Black Africans or Pakistani drinking there.
But it turns into an atmosphere that's uncomfortable.
Today while I was sitting on the wall in the sun, three 14 year old Albanian girls came up to me and asked if I had a cigarette. I told them no, that I don't smoke. And the walked away mimicking me saying "Woo hoo, I don't smoke." Seriously? I wanted to grab them and put my 41 year old face in theirs and say "Guess what? I'm only 22. I smoked since I was 14 and this is how I look now."
But then I thought, "Who the FUCK really cares? I care about a lot, sometimes way TOO much, but this? This I don't care about." Let them smoke, let them pretend to be cool and attractive with their cigarettes at 14. THAT is not my problem.
I've just had it with this place. Italians bitch and moan because of all the non-Italians in their country, yet the pseudo-communist party continues letting them come. Then the pseudo-commies go out in the streets and riot because there's no work. Well, DUH, you just gave your jobs away, dumbshits. Keep letting people who WANT to work come in and you won't have a job. You cannot have it all.
And they let them (us---I'm not Italian, either) come to live here, but they won't allow any type of integration, as seen by the shunning of a really nice park. I've always taken my daughter there to play. I think it's good for her to play with kids from other countries, but they form groups based on where they come from and they can be really mean to the little half American, half Italian kid.
So now we avoid it, too.
If you want the definition of conundrum, the above explains it pretty well.
Thursday 15 March 2012
Monday 12 March 2012
What TAXES mean to an Italian...
In the US if you work you are required to pay income taxes. Just as it is in most parts of the world, even here. Well, here's where the problem lies...Italians are the sneakiest bastards alive. They will let their whole economy collapse before they take on the responsibility of paying income tax. Not all, but the majority.
My husband works for the Italian military. His income is 1/3 of what a US military member of the same rank makes; yes, a THIRD. And my husband pays over 40% of his income in TAXES. It is immediately deducted from his pay, as is done for any State (national) employee. He has no choice. Almost half his money earned goes right back to the government.
Here's the kicker: if you are a private business owner--plumber, carpenter, electrician---you are supposed to pay income tax but most don't. They charge the client less is the client pays in cash. So there are no records of any transaction, and the money goes into their bank account. Some of these private business owners make 4 times what my husband earns, yet on their taxes claim only a quarter of what he earns, so they pay the minimum of tax income. Yet they drive Ferraris and Porsches, while my husband, who works an average of 11 hours a day, drives a piece of shit and I have a minivan, because that's all we can afford.
If you have work done the receipt you need to ask for is called the "fattura". If you get this fattura, you have to pay 21% sales tax on top of the total that was estimated for the work. So, for instance, I had my front door refinished and a small set of doors built for the storage area in the loft. The guy didn't give me the fattura (receipt). He just said "OK, that'll be 580 euros." Well, even though I can't really afford it, I REFUSE to support their way of (mafia) life. So I said I want the receipt. His eyes got big and he said "I don't think you understand. that means you have to add 21% to the price. You don't want to pay that."
Now he wasn't concerned about ME. Her was concerned about his ass. If he gives me the fattura, it's numbered and it has to be turned into the Italian IRS at the end of the month and HE has to pay taxes on it.
Well, that just pissed me off and I told him that I didn't care how uch it was, I'd pay it. I got out the calculator and summed it up (he didn't even know how to fill out the receipt--this tells you how often he does this) and I ended up paying 720 euros, for what was, in the end, shitty work. I had to re-sand the little doors in the loft and repaint them myself!
Did we have the extra money? No. Did that put us in a difficult position that month? Yes. But I did what is right, and I will always do what is right. I will not stoop to the level of these mafia-influenced pieces of shit just so they can buy a house with a swimming pool when I don't even get air conditioning.
And you may be wondering why the Italian IRS isn't all up in their shit? Well, they can't get their heads out of their own asses long enough to be worried about it. And there is so much corruption in government, they don't care about the average citizen here.
(Translation: War against Tax Evasion)
Recently Italy was condemned by the rest of the EU for the state of financial affairs in the country. But the Italians just sat around scratching their heads (and hair plugs--Berlusconi) and couldn't figure out what to do. This is a country hat has had a history of everyone doing everything for them, they can't do for themselves. If Italy is kicked out of the EU, good. It would suck for the FEW honest people, but it probably would have NO effect on the minds of the majority here.
Italians are killing themselves, making their country a breeding ground for corruption and enticing thugs and criminals from other parts of the world (i.e. Eastern Europe--Albania, Moldavia, Romenia) and then they just stand around and BITCH about it because as I've always said, the Italian national motto should be:
My husband works for the Italian military. His income is 1/3 of what a US military member of the same rank makes; yes, a THIRD. And my husband pays over 40% of his income in TAXES. It is immediately deducted from his pay, as is done for any State (national) employee. He has no choice. Almost half his money earned goes right back to the government.
Here's the kicker: if you are a private business owner--plumber, carpenter, electrician---you are supposed to pay income tax but most don't. They charge the client less is the client pays in cash. So there are no records of any transaction, and the money goes into their bank account. Some of these private business owners make 4 times what my husband earns, yet on their taxes claim only a quarter of what he earns, so they pay the minimum of tax income. Yet they drive Ferraris and Porsches, while my husband, who works an average of 11 hours a day, drives a piece of shit and I have a minivan, because that's all we can afford.
If you have work done the receipt you need to ask for is called the "fattura". If you get this fattura, you have to pay 21% sales tax on top of the total that was estimated for the work. So, for instance, I had my front door refinished and a small set of doors built for the storage area in the loft. The guy didn't give me the fattura (receipt). He just said "OK, that'll be 580 euros." Well, even though I can't really afford it, I REFUSE to support their way of (mafia) life. So I said I want the receipt. His eyes got big and he said "I don't think you understand. that means you have to add 21% to the price. You don't want to pay that."
Now he wasn't concerned about ME. Her was concerned about his ass. If he gives me the fattura, it's numbered and it has to be turned into the Italian IRS at the end of the month and HE has to pay taxes on it.
Well, that just pissed me off and I told him that I didn't care how uch it was, I'd pay it. I got out the calculator and summed it up (he didn't even know how to fill out the receipt--this tells you how often he does this) and I ended up paying 720 euros, for what was, in the end, shitty work. I had to re-sand the little doors in the loft and repaint them myself!
Did we have the extra money? No. Did that put us in a difficult position that month? Yes. But I did what is right, and I will always do what is right. I will not stoop to the level of these mafia-influenced pieces of shit just so they can buy a house with a swimming pool when I don't even get air conditioning.
And you may be wondering why the Italian IRS isn't all up in their shit? Well, they can't get their heads out of their own asses long enough to be worried about it. And there is so much corruption in government, they don't care about the average citizen here.
Recently Italy was condemned by the rest of the EU for the state of financial affairs in the country. But the Italians just sat around scratching their heads (and hair plugs--Berlusconi) and couldn't figure out what to do. This is a country hat has had a history of everyone doing everything for them, they can't do for themselves. If Italy is kicked out of the EU, good. It would suck for the FEW honest people, but it probably would have NO effect on the minds of the majority here.
Italians are killing themselves, making their country a breeding ground for corruption and enticing thugs and criminals from other parts of the world (i.e. Eastern Europe--Albania, Moldavia, Romenia) and then they just stand around and BITCH about it because as I've always said, the Italian national motto should be:
"IT'S NOT MY FAULT."
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