Hunters and Hunters: Sicily, the National Hunters Union where the taxes paid by island hunters end.
The article concerns the annual revenue that i hunters they pay to the regional treasury: revenue that is used not for management purposes, as required by law, but to cover the general expenses of the region. Unfortunately, the problem also affects other regions. According to the art. 23, paragraph 1, of Law 11 February 1992, n. 157 “The regions, in order to obtain the financial means necessary to achieve the purposes envisaged by this law and by the relevant regional laws, are authorized to institute a regional concession tax, pursuant to article 3 of law no. 16, and subsequent amendments, for the issue of the authorization to practice hunting referred to in article 1970. The art. 23 above constitutes the principle on which art. 30, paragraph 1, LR n. 33 of 1 September 1997, according to which "for the achievement of the purposes of this law, the regional concession tax is instituted, for the release of the authorization to practice hunting, the amount of which is set at an annual rate of 50 per one hundred of the national government concession tax for the hunting area of residence. ……. ".
It is useful to represent that although Sicily enjoys a special statute, however the Sicilian tax system is inextricably bound to the state tax system pursuant to art. 117, paragraph 2, lett. and the Constitution. And in terms of taxes, it could not be otherwise, both because otherwise art. 5 of the same Constitution which wants the Republic to be “one and indivisible”, and because otherwise the principle of equality pursuant to art. 3 of the Charter.
Basically, Sicily, like the other Regions, enjoys autonomy in tax matters exclusively within the limits dictated by the Law of the State, in this case by art. 23, paragraph 2, Law no. 157/1992 of which "The tax referred to in paragraph 1 is subject to annual renewal and can be set at no less than 50 percent and no more than 100 percent of the tax".
It is therefore clear that the current diversion of the taxes paid by hunters towards chapters that finance the general expenditure of the Entity is in contrast with both the principle referred to in art. 23, paragraph 1, of Law no. 157/1992 which legitimizes the imposition on every hunter of a regional tax exclusively to finance the purposes envisaged by the hunting reform law, both with art. 30, LR n. 33/1997.
According to the General Accounting Office of the Region, art. 30, LR n. 33/1997, which allocates the taxes paid by hunters to finance the wildlife management, should have been applied until 1999, given that art. 51, paragraph 2, LR n. 33/1997 according to which “The charges (for wildlife management) for the financial years subsequent to 1999 will be determined in accordance with article 4, paragraph 2, of the regional law no. 8 “: this article does not provide for any restriction on the destination of taxes. The Accounting Office's assumption is clearly wrong only if one thinks that such a reconstruction would not explain the reasons why the Sicilian Legislator only at first, precisely from the date of promulgation of LR n. 1977/47 until 33, would have given a restriction on the destination of the taxes that concern us here, to release them from any restrictions (violating, according to the mechanism of the interposed rule, Article 1997, paragraph 1999, letter e of the Constitution) in the following years.
It should also be noted that the regional faunal heritage constitutes a "constitutionally protected" environmental asset whose conservation is independent from supporting hunting activities. The wildlife management of this heritage constitutes the purpose of the Framework Law, Law no. 157/1992, which entrusts the actual implementation of the management to the Regions. It therefore means that regardless of the taxes paid annually by hunters, the Region must, in any case, ensure the correct wildlife management of its territory. In other words, it means that the wildlife management of the Sicilian territory is partly financed with the proceeds deriving from hunters pursuant to art. 30, LR n. 33/1997, partly through the intervention of the Region itself.
Testimony of this is given by art. 51, paragraph 1, of the same regional law which for the years 1998 and 1999 financed the wildlife sector with a good 7 billion and 680 million lire per year: this amount is significantly higher than the income deriving for each year from the taxes paid by hunters. It is now clear that if the regional budget does not allow financing the wildlife sector from the general expenditure side, however, both art. 23 of the Framework Law, and art. 30 of the Regional Law n. 33/1997 to be understood, the latter, where necessary, as a special rule with respect to other regional rules of a general nature.
It is in this key that art. 51, paragraph 2, LR n. 33/1997: “The charges for the financial years subsequent to 1999 will be determined in accordance with article 4, paragraph 2, of the regional law no. 8? and they cannot be less than the taxes paid by hunters. The above appears even clearer if one wonders what was the reason for which the Legislator of the Framework Law imposed a destination constraint on the taxes paid by hunters. The reason is simple: to avoid that the Regions, with their budget problems, abandon wildlife to their fate and use the proceeds of hunting to finance expenditure items deemed more important. This is what is happening in Sicily: the sums paid by the hunters flow into the common "cauldron" and finance the general expenditure; only a tiny fraction is used for management purposes such as cover for damage to farmers by wildlife.
Ultimately, the taxes paid annually by hunters must be used exclusively for the wildlife management of the territory; to these may be added, within the budgetary limits, further appropriations. It is worthless that the 2009 regional stability law has changed the expenditure financing regime. In fact, both the principle pursuant to art. 23, paragraph 1, Law no. 157/1992 which continues to legitimize the payment of the regional tax, both the provisions pursuant to art. 30, paragraph 1, LR n. 33/1997. It should be noted that the Syndicate would have no interest in raising any question if the sums allocated annually to wildlife management from the general expenditure were at least equal to the taxes paid by hunters mistakenly distracted to finance the general expenditure itself. But is not so.
From the managerial point of view, what appears to have been financed in recent years is the chapter relating to compensation for damage caused by wildlife (chap. 143703). Unlike as stated by the Accounting, chap. 142522 which should finance the institutional tasks of the Wildlife Hunting Departments in reality scarcely finances the payment of attendance fees to the members of the examination commissions for the qualification to practice hunting.
The expenses for the establishment and management of protection oases and Restocking and Capture Zones remain practically uncovered; the purchase of game for restocking, the purchase of management materials such as telescopes, satellite antennas, nets, drinking bottles, etc. remain uncovered; any possible agreement with landowners tending to give up part of the harvest for the benefit of the wild, to leave uncultivated part of the land for the shelter of the same, to sow appetizing essences to Rabbits, Partridges, Hares, etc., remains without funding. not to use pesticides that are lethal to fauna; the environmental and hunting associations that have long since stopped all supervisory activities remain free of contributions; above all, art. 15, paragraph 1, L. n.157 / 1992 according to which "For the use of the funds included in the regional wildlife-hunting plan for the purposes of the planned management of the hunt, a contribution is due to the owners or conductors to be determined by of the regional administration in relation to the extension, the agronomic conditions, the measures aimed at the protection and enhancement of the environment. "
So much must know the Sicilian hunters.
The head of the legal sector
Dr. Giovanni Di Giunta
National Union of Hunters
(January 9, 2015)