Berlusconi under fire for tax pardons

The Italian government’s handling of a campaign to fight corporate tax evasion has sparked heavy criticism among Italian media.

The crackdown on corporate tax evasion is being portrayed by the government as the way to balance the country’s finances, but prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is running for president in 2006, is seeing his credibility questioned for handing out 39 tax pardons to companies in the last four years.

The companies were allowed to walk away after paying...