Italians react to austerity package

ROME -- Italian politicians scrambled Sunday to find ways to modify the government's plan for slashed spending and new taxes, a formula devised to reassure markets but which set Premier Silvio Berlusconi's allies bickering among themselves and incensed ordinary citizens.

Just before much of Italy shut down for a big mid-August holiday weekend, Berlusconi unveiled the hastily assembled $67-billion austerity package.

Reluctantly reneging on his promise to "never put the government's hands in the pockets of citizens," the billionaire media mogul announced a "solidarity" tax of an extra 5 percent on income over $130,000 and 10 percent over $220,000.

The measures also include closing down local governments of towns with less than 1,000 citizens, speeding up the timetable for raising women's retirement age and pledging to work for a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget.

But cries are rising from ordinary Italians as well as some politicians that the government cut its own fat. Proposals include halving the number of Parliament's handsomely paid members, and selling off villas and other state real estate. There have even been calls to break a sacred taboo by ending the property tax exemption on the Catholic Church's extensive holdings in Italy. ---- AP