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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Economy & business fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about economy & business. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

7,103 published reviews in this topic

Pagella PoliticaEconomy & business

«[Il ministro dell’Economia e delle Finanze Roberto Gualtieri] ha appena annunciato che se sei in arretrato con i pagamenti ti possono pignorare i conti. Secondo me siamo all’Unione sovietica fiscale perché siamo allo Stato di polizia fiscale»

Publisher’s rating: Nì

The review examines Salvini’s November 21 statement in Rome that Gualtieri had announced that people behind on payments could have their bank accounts seized. It focuses on a provision in the 2020 budget bill concerning local authorities’ collection of local taxes and other revenues, rather than describing an unrestricted new power to seize accounts whenever a payment is late. The proposed rule would allow certain local-authority notices to become enforceable titles if the taxpayer did not pay within the specified period and did not appeal; the review says judicial authorization would then not be required for enforcement. The review explains that the proposal allowed 90 days for payment and appeal, set a €10 minimum threshold for an enforceable title, and suspended enforcement for 180 days after the title was obtained. It says that, after this suspension, enforcement could include seizure of the amount owed directly from a taxpayer’s bank account. Its key qualification is that this would be a new mechanism for local authorities, not a wholly new possibility: the review says account seizure in state tax collection had existed for years, subject to non-payment and failure to appeal or comply. The review’s conclusion is therefore qualified: the bill proposed a change affecting local-tax collection, but Salvini’s broad phrasing omitted both the conditions for enforcement and the distinction between local and state collection. The review also describes an earlier procedural change in 2017, when collection functions were transferred from Equitalia to the Revenue Agency, allowing that agency to verify information and activate collection proceedings. These points explain why the claim was not simply treated as either entirely new or entirely false.

NewtralEconomy & business

El bus navideño de Madrid ha subido la tarifa a 10 euros tras privatizarse

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns Naviluz (also called Navibus), the Madrid Christmas bus service that takes passengers around the city to see the holiday lights. The review says the service’s management was moving from the municipal bus company, EMT, to the private UTE Madrid City Tour, operated by Grupo Juliá and Alsa. It distinguishes that change in management from the claim that fares had risen: according to the review, the city council said the general ticket would remain €4, not €10. The review also reports that Madrid City Tour confirmed to Newtral.es that prices would stay as they had been the previous year. It lists the other fares as unchanged too: free for children up to age seven, and €2 for people over 65, people with reduced mobility, and children aged seven to eleven. Thus, the evidence presented directly contradicts the alleged €10 general fare while acknowledging the privatization that formed part of the claim. The review adds that EMT workers’ strike began on November 21, the day after the outsourcing news became known, and was scheduled to continue through November 22. Privatization was one of the workers’ reasons, but their complaints also included deterioration of the public bus service. The excerpt does not present the strike as evidence of a fare increase.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturEconomy & business

Ein Bild bei Facebook zeigt Schokoladen-Weihnachtsmänner der Firma Lindt mit einem Preisschild, das sie als «Jahresendfigur» ausweist. Dazu der Kommentar: «Neu bei Netto».

Publisher’s rating: Weder beim Unternehmen «Netto Marken-Discount» noch beim Unternehmen «Netto Deutschland» werden diese Schoko-Figuren als Jahresendfiguren verkauft. Hersteller Lindt listet das Produkt als Weihnachtsmann.

The review examined a Facebook image purporting to show Lindt chocolate figures with a “Jahresendfigur” price label and the caption “Neu bei Netto.” It checked the two German supermarket chains whose names include Netto: Netto Marken-Discount and Netto ApS & Co. KG, which operates under the name Netto. The review reports that both companies responded to questions from dpa, as did Lindt Deutschland. Netto Marken-Discount said its own-brand chocolate figures and Lindt’s figures were listed as “Weihnachtsmänner” (Santa figures). It also said price labels are produced centrally and provided to its stores. Netto ApS & Co. KG said the pictured price label was not from its company. Lindt Deutschland said the product was listed as a “Weihnachtsmann” and that it had already answered social-media inquiries about the image accordingly.

Pagella PoliticaEconomy & business

«[Con la legge di Bilancio per il 2020] realizziamo il più grande taglio di tasse degli ultimi tempi rispetto allo scenario a politiche invariate»

Publisher’s rating: Nì

The claim concerned Giuseppe Conte’s statement that Italy’s 2020 budget law would deliver the biggest recent tax cut compared with what would happen under unchanged policies. The review examined projections in the 2020 Draft Budgetary Plan (Dpb), comparing the projected tax burden with and without the government’s planned measures. It emphasizes that these are forecasts, not established outcomes: “si sta parlando sempre di previsioni, per quanto contenute in documenti ufficiali, e non di dati certi.” For 2020, the Dpb projected that, without intervention, the tax burden would rise from 42 per cent in 2019 to 42.7 per cent. With the proposed measures, the government forecast a near-stable burden, moving from 41.9 to 42 per cent. The review therefore describes the 0.7-percentage-point difference chiefly as an increase avoided, not simply a tax cut. It also notes that the government itself forecast a slight increase in the tax burden in 2020 under its proposed budget. To assess whether the difference was the largest in recent years, the review compared Dpb projections for successive budget periods. Its key comparison is 2015–16: the plan forecast a 1.1-point reduction in the tax burden under the Renzi government’s budget measures, larger than the 0.7-point difference attributed to the 2020 plan. The review adds that the 2020 result depended especially on blocking a scheduled VAT increase, a measure established by the preceding government. It concludes that Conte’s superlative was inaccurate and that calling the change a tax cut was misleading, since it mainly prevented a projected increase.