The government has not yet obtained confidence - the Senate will vote on it tomorrow afternoon at 19,30 pm - and the team of ministers and undersecretaries is not yet complete but the first "case" has already broken out. The not yet undersecretary Alberto Bagnai (in pectore to become, according to rumors, in charge of the League) came out on Monday morning - during the broadcast of the Rete 3 Rai Agorà - with this statement: "It seems to me there is the agreement on starting the flat tax from next year for companies. Starting from the second year, it is planned to apply it to families,” said Bagnai. So Double Rate Flat Tax in 2019 for businesses and in 2020 for families.
In the government contract, formalized on May 18, Lega and M5s undertook to introduce a tax with two fixed rates at 15% and 20% "for natural persons, VAT numbers, businesses and families". For families there is also a fixed deduction of 3.000 euros based on family income. This formulation replaced the initial hypothesis which aimed at a single rate of 15% for businesses.
This escaped statement from the sen was enough for the opposition, with the Democratic Party, to rush to office: “It's already being postponed? And then it's already there for businesses”. And the other economist of the League, Armando Siri, quickly ran for cover, correcting the shot: “It is not true that from next year the Flat Tax will come into force only for businesses, it will also be there for families. Then everything will be up and running for 2020".
The Democratic Party did not miss the opportunity to recall that the flat tax "for businesses has already existed for decades (first it was called Irpeg, then Ires) and the government of Matteo Renzi recently reduced it from 27,5% to 24%”, writes the deputy and economist Luigi Marattin on Twitter. And the regent Maurizio Martina increases the dose:
#FlatTax. The mockery of Italians by Lega and M5S continues. On businesses they pretend not to know what we have already done: Ires (from 27,5 to 24%) and Iri (24% for SMEs) #enoughpropaganda
— Maurizio Martina (@maumartina) 4 June 2018
The total cost of the operation has been quantified at 50 billion from Armando Siri, economic adviser to Northern League leader Matteo Salvini. Which makes Forza Italia, now a former ally of the League, say: “Through which funds would this new cut be made? It's not a good start and yet another good reason not to vote for confidence”.
Not to mention that just before being nominated Minister of Economy, Giovanni Tria – in an article published exclusively online by FIRST – advised prudence by proposing a level of tax rates “which allows for the transitional minimization of the loss of revenue”. The Tor Vergata professor also suggested partially financing the flat tax by triggering increases in VAT and excise duties from next January.
“It's absolutely out of the question,” Bagnai now replies, indicated by some sources as a potential Undersecretary of the Treasury. But then it will be necessary to find, as envisaged in the Lega-M5S government contract, 12,5 billion in 2019 and just over 19 in 2020.
Perhaps Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who will appear in the Senate and then in the Chamber to illustrate the program on Tuesday at the end of the morning, will be able to clarify the puzzle. The vote of confidence is expected by 20 pm in the Senate, while the House will vote on Wednesday afternoon.
