Charged with the thankless task of knocking Italy's public finances into shape, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa is doing his best. Alas, two top rating agencies think his best won't do. The finance minister faces a big budget deficit (4.1% of GDP last year) and mountainous public debt (in gross terms, 109% of GDP). But Standard & Poor's and Fitch say Mr Padoa-Schioppa's recent budget does too little. They think it relies too much on raising taxes and not enough on cutting spending, which economists say is a surer path to lasting fiscal sobriety. They are less optimistic than the minister about how much a crackdown on tax evasion can bring in. And they detect accounting jiggery-pokery too. Last week the agencies downgraded Italy's sovereign debt.
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