Among the many issues that the new government will have to deal with is the well-known one cash cap, a theme dear to the center-right which has always had a hard time digesting limits and impositions. It is no coincidence that the issue also figured prominently in the program that the coalition formed by the Brothers of Italy, Lega and Forza Italia presented before the elections and which envisaged, we quote verbatim, "an increase in the limit on the use of cash, aligning it at the European Union average".
With the victory of the centre-right in the elections, therefore, cash rules may soon change in a less restrictive sense, pace of the centre-left which instead considers the limit on the use of cash as a bulwark in the fight against tax evasion.
Cash ceiling: how does it work today?
To date, the threshold within which it is possible to pay or carry out cash transactions is equal to 2 thousand euros. The ceiling will remain at this level until the end of the year, while from 1 January 2023, if the new government does not establish new rules, the limit will drop to one thousand euros.
In 2022, the issue has also been the focus of a small political case. From 1 January 2022, in fact, the ceiling should have dropped to a thousand euros on the basis of a measure envisaged in the tax decree associated with the maneuver, but last February, surprisingly, an amendment by the Brothers of Italy was approved to Milleproroghe decree is kept the ceiling on cash at 2 eurosinstead of dropping it to a thousand. Together with Fdi, Lega and Forza Italia also voted, which despite being part of the majority, decided to vote against the opinion of the same government to which they belonged.
What will happen with the new government? The 3 options on the table
As mentioned, the center-right has always been against imposing limits on the use of cash, or at least setting thresholds considered "too low" by the coalition parties. In 2019, a tweet from Giorgia Meloni made the rounds of social networks, in which the leader of Fdi wrote in reference to the ceiling of a thousand euros: "If a father wants to donate more than € 1000 to his son, he will necessarily have to do it by bank transfer, otherwise hefty fine. No more governments serving the banks, we will do everything to expel these squatters”.
It is therefore unlikely that, once you have gone up to Palazzo Chigi, Meloni leave everything as it is. A possible intervention could already arrive within the context of the next Budget law, unless, given the many issues to be addressed (from inflation to the energy crisis) and the very little time available, the new Government decides to postpone cash intervention a few months to focus on other topics.
As mentioned, within its program, the center-right had promised to raising the limit to the “European average”. To date, among the countries that have established a threshold, there are 4 that have a lower ceiling than that envisaged by Italy: Greece (500 euros), Spain, France and Romania (one thousand euros). Croatia and Slovakia are instead the least restrictive EU countries (15 euros). The European average at which the plan of the coalition led by Meloni-Salvini-Berlusconi is therefore equal to 4.750 euros.
However, there is also a third option on the table that tickles the appetites of some center-right exponents: completely eliminate the cash cap. As he tells Il Sole 24 Ore, iSenator Andrea de Bertoldi, former secretary of the VI Finance and Treasury Commission, re-elected Fdi this time in the Chamber, had told Plus24 that he "wanted to restore the free movement of cash, and only alternatively, that he wanted to raise the limit to 3 thousand euros.
