Italy set to hike tax for TV, phone, airport operators - draft

ROME (Reuters) - Italy plans to raise corporate income tax on businesses which need a licence from the government, a draft document seen by Reuters on Wednesday showed, as Rome looks for ways to finance an expansionary 2020 budget.

The planned tax increases were seen yielding 647 million euros in 2020, according to the government-backed legislative proposal, and will affect companies such as toll road and airport operators, TV broadcasters and telecoms, railways, energy and mineral water companies.

The ruling coalition, made up of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and centre-left Democratic Party (PD), wants to increase the income tax for those companies to 27% from the current 24%.

The scheme will run until 2021, according to the document presented in parliament by the government, which wants to introduce the measures in 2020 budget currently being discussed.

(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)