Matteo Renzi
Italy's newly appointed Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Italy Eyes Raising €400m By Hitting Savers with Higher Bond Tax Reuters

Italy's new Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is already chomping at the bit to implement some radical economic reforms after his chief of staff revealed that the government is looking at whether to hit savers with a rise in financial investment gains tax.

Graziano Delrio revealed that the Italian government is looking at raising the tax on the amount of money people make on financial investments while Italian newspaper La Stampa said this could be up to 20%, from 12.5%.

"We will consider whether we should rework the taxes on capital gains from financial investments, which at the moment are not in line with the European average of 25%," said Delrio.

Renzi added, to reporters in the Senate, that "taxing (financial) earnings to get money for the labour reform is an issue that will be studied."

According to analysts at Reuters, the rise in financial instrument gain tax to 20% would bring in an extra €400m (£330m, $550m) from Italian retail investors, if the bond has an average coupon on 2.83%.

Renzi is expected to focus on speeding up structural reforms to recalibrate Italy's economy, which has trailed behind other European countries.

The man is Italy's youngest prime minister and will be announcing new labour laws for March, reforms to the public administration for April, and a tax bill for May.

"We are going to work very hard on contents," Renzi said, adding that his priority was to tackle unemployment.

Meanwhile, the chief economist for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pier Carlo Padoan will take the role as Italy's finance minister, after his early criticism over tough austerity measures, for countries that are struggling with excessive debt and weakened economies, won support from the government.