Bologna, the TARSU tax hits a record at +67%. Here is why it's not supposed to.

(Read here the original article in italian by Antonio Amorosi).

Bologna sets a national record, but for taxes on waste collection. They're the highest in Italy. According to CGIA of Mestre, they increased by 67% since year 2000.
We found out why. The local administration achieved it by "forgetting" to apply the law that regulates the disposal of municipal solid waste (Article 61 of the Legislative Decree of 15 November 1993, number 507).
It states that waste charges payed by the citizens of a municipality may not exceed the total cost of collection. Too bad that the Municipality of Bologna from 2006 to 2012 imposed taxes higher than that cost by many millions of Euros.
As in 2012 (official data): waste collection cost to the municipal company (Hera) 67 million 315 thousand euros but taxes resulted  higher by 11 million and 323 thousand euros, for a total of 78 million 638 thousand euro. With a burden on individual bills by a third.
In 2011, for example, the collection cost 65,600,000 but 69,500,000 Euros is what citizens payed. Or in 2010, the collection of waste cost 63 million but the municipality applied taxes of 66 (cf. tables at the bottom of the article). Sinces 2006 the citizens of Bologna have payed 22 million 600 thousands euros in excess.

The opposition councilors Lorenzo Tomassini, Federica Salsi and Lucia Borgonzoni are on a warpath:

Lorenzo Tomassini (PDL): "If we do not get clarification we will turn to the authorities. Citizens can not pay this surcharge they are not aware of and from which they cannot defend. A group of lawyers is ready to work for free to allow the citizens to get their money back. If the situation is confirmed we will go on. Bologna doesn't seem to care about transparency and treats its citizens as subjects".

Lucia Borgonzoni (Northern League): "The increase of waste taxes in recent years has been a hard blow for both families and businesses, which are already harassed by the crisis and the ever-increasing tax burden. The City should encourage the virtuous and lock the tax increase."

Federica Salsi (Mixed Group):  "Citizens are always asked for more collaboration in separate collection of waste. They actually already take the place of the 'roadkeepers' and work in place of Hera which finds the waste already separated. Therefore there is no reason for the waste tax to have increased steadily over the years."  

And the tax has exploded during the government of Virginio Merola.

(take a look at the bottom of the article for data tables).