Six month extension for i tax bonuses on building renovations and interventions for the energy efficiency of buildings, cutting ai electoral refunds for parties. These are the main topics discussed this morning in the Council of Ministers.
On the fiscal side, the problem is, as always, that of coverage. For this reason it seems probable that the Government will eventually choose to extend until the end of the year only the 55% bonus on energy efficiency (as anticipated yesterday by Minister Flavio Zanonato at the Confindustria assembly), leaving instead unchanged that of 50% on restructuring, which will therefore expire at the end of June. At the moment the Executive has found only the 80 million necessary for the first intervention. For the second, another 120 would be needed. Too many. Apparently there wouldn't even be room for another measure being studied by the Minister for Infrastructures, Maurizio Lupi, namely the incentive for the purchase of kitchens and furniture by young couples.
It is unlikely that the Government will be able to find the resources for these measures, also because Prime Minister Enrico Letta has asked to give precedence to two billion euros which would serve to block the automatic increase of the third VAT rate from XNUMX July (which would go from 21 to 22%). All without compromising the closure of the excessive deficit procedure towards our country, which Brussels should announce within days.
As for the second front of action, that of the money to partiesYesterday Letta was clear: “Politics must recover credibility and the intervention will not be against the parties, but in favor of them – he too said in front of the industrial audience -. Doing nothing, not responding to the demand for sobriety that comes from public opinion, would be suicide. He would mean fueling citizens' aversion to politics and favoring populist movements that ride anti-politics. Only the self-reform of politics can save politics”.
The safest information regarding the contents of the reform are those anticipated on Wednesday by the Minister of Reforms, Gaetano Quagliariello, who spoke of "four pillars" before the constitutional affairs commissions of the Chamber and Senate. The first stops at ethics, emphasizing the importance of principles such as "sobriety and transparency". The second instead establishes that "the reimbursement of expenses incurred in the electoral campaign" takes place only "against suitable documentation. Enough with the rain financing”. The third concerns the replacement "of the direct disbursement of money to the parties with the provision of services, in every case in which this is possible". Finally, the fourth pillar provides for the incentives for citizen contributions through forms of tax relief.
The undersecretary to the Prime Minister, Filippo Patroni Griffi, has been working on the text of the reform for a few days. Today the CDM will begin examining the provision, which should see the light by June.
