THEIM 2013 on first home, agricultural land and rural housing is canceled. In its place, a service tax will arrive from next year, i.e. a tax that will incorporate various municipal levies, including the Tares on waste. However, the new tax will have a more progressive nature, because it will take into account the size of the houses.
From a political point of view, the Council of Ministers held last night was a success. The PDL claims victory, claiming to have kept the promise made to the voters. The Democratic Party, on the other hand, succeeds in not providing its allies-adversaries with a good pretext to undermine the majority and at the same time puts in the pipeline a provision which it deems financially sustainable.
In reality, on the economic front the game is not over yet. At the moment the covers are sufficient to cancel only the first installment of the IMU: the final solution for the December balance, on the other hand, will come with a second provision to be launched by mid-October, or directly with the stability law. The promise is to resolve the issue without raising any more taxes.
Meanwhile, as far as the down payment is concerned, the 2,4 billion needed will come from the extra VAT linked to the advance of a new tranche of 10 billion in arrears payments from the Public Administration, from gaming (in particular from the regularization of the accounting dispute on the new slots machine) and new cuts in public spending.
"With the introduction of the service tax we want to create a federal accountability mechanism, with municipalities that will not only be collectors - commented the premier, Enrico Letta –. The service tax is a federalist tax that triggers the liability mechanism. The mayors will be protagonists”.
As for public finances, “we will not change our commitments with Europe – added the Prime Minister -. We remain below 3%" in the deficit-GDP ratio". On the political side, however, for Letta the decree passed yesterday is "a victory for the government" and marks the end of doubts about the hold of the majority: "There is no more deadline".
Satisfaction also from the PDL: “A promise fulfilled – he wrote Silvio Berlusconi in a note –. A practical and symbolic cardinal point of the program that we wanted as a qualifying choice in the agreements that led to the formation of a government of broad understandings. President Letta has respected the agreements with the PDL. The positive effects benefit all citizens”.
For the Deputy Prime Minister Angelino Alfano, on the other hand, with the abolition of the Imu on first homes “the choice was made to create a cornerstone of the founding government pact. The news and newspapers will bring wonderful news into the homes of Italians: they had to pay a tax and they won't pay it. It is a measure done in the right way, it is tax free”.
But the decree passed yesterday by the government does not only contain the provision on the IMU. Here are the other package sizes.
redundancy fund refinanced for 0,5 billion
“We have refinanced the redundancy fund for half a billion euros – Letta announced again at the press conference -. Right now, the job emergency seems to us to be a significant emergency alongside the measures for growth. It is a very important initial response”.
SOLUTION FOR 6.500 EXODATIES
"With the provision approved today we have identified the most disadvantaged category in the whole world of redundancies, the individual dismissed - explained the Premier - before the application of the pension reform and who, due to the lengthening of the times, find themselves without salary and pension. There are 6.500 people to whom we are giving a structural response today. After three interventions by the Monti government, this is the fourth intervention to close the affair of the exodus". In particular, a sum between 700 million and one billion euros will be allocated to allow these people to retire with the legislation prior to the Fornero reform.
ANOTHER 10 BILLION IN PAYMENTS OF PA DEBT
“We have decided to enter into the system new 10 billion credits that companies have with public administrations – continued Letta -. Ten billion of new credits that will be immediately introduced into the system and will serve to create economic turnover and employment. Naturally they will also bring more tax revenue than VAT and will serve to partially cover this provision” on the IMU.
Economy Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni underlined that "with another 10 billion in repayments, public administration debts paid by the government to businesses will rise to 30 billion". As regards the house chapter, Saccomanni explained that unsold houses will be exempt from the IMU and the dry coupon will drop from 19 to 15%.
THE REACTIONS OF MONTI AND THE 5 STARS
Former Prime Minister Mario Monti harshly criticized the decision to abolish the IMU, defining it as a “yielding of the Pd, Enrico Letta and Minister Saccomanni, whom I hold in high esteem, to pressure from the Pdl. All citizens will end up paying for all this with small increases in small taxes and with rising interest rates”.
According to the deputies of the 5 Star Movement, on the other hand, “the pantomime on the Imu is the latest episode of the theater of large mess-ups. The majority is falling apart and today the government is putting a patch on a situation that is falling towards the abyss. The service tax promises to be confused, botched, opaque. And it will see citizens in the usual role of victims destined to save money on the one hand and pay more on the other through Tares and levies on so-called indivisible services”.
