ROME- The president of the Young Businessmen of the Italian Industrial Federation has appealed to Italian premier Matteo Renzi, calling for a review in how VAT is paid after a businessman committed suicide on Sunday.

 In a letter to the head of state, Giordano Riello informed Renzi that Bassano businessman Edoardo Alberton took his own life, who prior to his death had been tried for a late VAT payment. Alberton is another addition to the long list of businessmen who have claimed their lives in the current economic crisis in Italy.

 Riello wrote that “businesses are completely worn out, suffocated by the fiscal and justice systems which do not allow them to expand, and which also destroy lives and families.

 “Every suicide whose motives are economic-based is a tragedy, and is even more unacceptable if it was not due to the crisis but because an individual could not pay his or her taxes.

“In particular the system, which calls for the payment of VAT and also any bankruptcies is perverse, because it means that a person has to pay a tax on credit which isn’t available, due to their bankruptcy” said Riello.

 Riello stated that this causes a vicious cycle that also brings the creditor into financial difficulty and debt, as he or she may not be able to pay employees and suppliers, causing the creditor to also file for bankruptcy.

 The head of the Young Businessmen association finished the letter by urging the government to change the taxation system in bankruptcy situations, branding it “profoundly unjust.”