The supertax disappears, the sacrifices for local authorities are lightened and the VAT remains as it is. On the other hand, new interventions on pensions and the famous patrimonial against tax evaders are arriving. These are the fundamental points of the new agreement between the PDL and the League. After more than seven hours spent discussing in the Arcore villa, Berlusconi, Bossi and Tremonti (Maroni, Alfano, Cicchitto and Gasparri were also present) finally reached an agreement on the changes to be made to the August XNUMX maneuver. Now the ball passes to the Senate Budget and Constitutional Affairs committees, which they will work tirelessly to reorganize the text and ensure that it can be approved quickly (especially in the Chamber, where the numbers of the majority are less reassuring). The goal is to get the go-ahead by early September to satisfy the ECB, which requires us to pass the new 45,5 billion law as soon as possible to achieve a balanced budget in 2013.
However, it is not obvious that Brussels and Frankfurt will extend their approval from the decree of 12 August to this new revised and corrected version. The risk is that the same doubts raised yesterday by the opposition will arise in Europe: after all these excerpts, are the balances really unchanged? From the Government they continue to guarantee that the accounts add up, but it seems that the technicians of the Treasury are not of the same opinion. 4,2 billion would be missing. Meanwhile, the deputy general manager of the Bank of Italy Ignazio Visco, in hearing in front of the commissions of Palazzo Madama, he stressed that "the adjustment of the accounts, necessary to avoid a much more serious scenario, will inevitably have restrictive effects on the economy".
Now let's see in detail what are the latest changes made to the manoeuvre:
SOLIDARITY CONTRIBUTION CANCELLED, BUT IT SURVIVES FOR PARLIAMENTARIANS
The Irpef surtax on income exceeding 90 thousand euros disappears. No raising of the threshold, no reduced rate, just a clean slate. To the delight of the premier, who for weeks had been trying to get rid of the provision which more than any other forced him to "put his hands in the pockets of the Italians". The real news is that the supertax will not be replaced by the increase in VAT (an intervention that until yesterday was taken for granted, but which instead – as Tremonti wanted – remains a loaded weapon in the hands of the Treasury in view of the fiscal delegation) . To counterbalance the revenue from the solidarity contribution (3,8 billion in all) there should be a new tightening on tax evasion and the cutting of subsidies for cooperatives. The levy, on the other hand, remains unchanged (double threshold at 90 and 150 thousand euros, double rate at 5 and 10%) for parliamentarians. The League is pushing to make players pay too – so hated by Calderoli – and even presented an amendment to be able to double the fee for this category of privileged people.
THE SUPER TAX ON THE STATE DOES NOT TOUCH
Perhaps some of them had hoped for it, but the levy on civil servants' salaries has never been in question. What is being discussed these days are the amendments to the maneuver bis passed by decree last August 12, while the solidarity contribution for state employees (5% for the share of income exceeding 90 euros per year, 10% over 150 thousand) was even introduced with the maneuver of July 2010. And you can't touch it. This was confirmed by the rapporteur Antonio Anzollini, who in these hours is translating the agreements reached yesterday by the majority into amendments.
SACRIFICES FOR COOPERATIVES
The first consequence of farewell to the supertax is the new sting on cooperatives which, according to the Government, enjoy tax breaks (including partial exemption from IRES and various deductions) for 714 million euros a year. A figure that will be drastically reduced.
SENIORITY PENSIONS, UNIVERSITY AND LEAVES DO NOT COUNT
Restrictions on the requirements necessary to obtain the retirement pension. There remains the possibility of retiring from work with 40 years of contributions, but these must be "years of effective work". Time spent in university as well as time spent in compulsory military service will be excluded from the calculation. It will no longer be possible to anticipate the pension by redeeming those years, which in any case will continue to weigh on the calculation for the final amount of the allowance. TWO BILLION IN
TWO BILLION MORE TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES, INSTEAD THREE
After the fiery protests coming mainly from the administrators of the Lega and Pdl, the Government has decided to reduce the cuts to local authorities by two billion between now and 2013, which originally amounted to 9,2 billion. The relief should be financed by new anti-evasion measures: the Municipalities will have an interest in increasing controls because they will be allowed to collect part of the recovered revenue. Finally, one billion more will come from the Robin Tax on energy companies, which now seems inevitable.
FIGHT AGAINST EVADERS, TIGHTEN ON "COMMODATION COMPANIES"
The famous "patrimonial on tax evaders" conceived by Calderoli evolves. New fiscal measures will be introduced to “eliminate the abuse of elusive ownership and interpositions of assets”. That is to say, the wealthy Italian tax evaders will no longer be able to transfer the villa to the sea or the yacht to fictitious companies created with the sole purpose of not paying taxes. To flush out the sly ones, it will be necessary to find a way to compare the standard of living and the assets declared to the tax authorities. “The free ride is over”, comments the Minister of Simplifications with satisfaction. There is an agreement, but the amendments still need to be written.
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: OUT OF THE PROVINCES, HALF THE PARLIAMENTARIANS
Total abolition of the Provinces (whose powers will be transferred to the Regions) and halving of the number of deputies and senators. These are the interventions that the Government has chosen to entrust to a future constitutional bill. At best, it will take nine months to approve the measure, since any change to the Charter requires a double parliamentary reading. Furthermore, the outcome of the vote is far from obvious, considering that a similar project for the cancellation of the provinces was rejected in the classroom no more than a month ago.
Government statement
