"30% of owners of first homes will be exempt from the Imu, while the remaining 70% will pay an average of 200 euros“. Thus the Undersecretary for the Economy, Vieri Ceriani, replied to the many accusers of the new tax, League in the lead. But the numbers arriving from the Treasury weren't enough to appease spirits: as the first deadline approaches (the down payment will be paid by 18 June) the battle over the numbers becomes even more fierce.
“The Imu is not a new tax – underlines Ceriani – It was defined by the previous government and we have only brought it forward by a year and extended it to the first houses”. The ICI was in force "from 1993 until 2007 and only in 2008 was it decided to suspend it: the only country in the world where the owner of a property does not pay the tax on the property itself". In short, "not paying this tax was an anomaly". But there's more: according to the Treasury it is not true that the IMU will be heavier than the ICI. Indeed, you will pay even less, at least for the lowest cadastral income. However, as the value of the property increases, the gap will gradually widen. And for the most prestigious homes, in fact, the IMU will be much heavier than the old ICI.
The Treasury document notes that the first point in favor of the IMU is on the deductions front. That of the ICI was 103,29 euros, while that of the new tax reaches 200 euros, with an additional 50 euros deductible for each dependent child. This means for families who live in modest houses the tax may even drop to zero (for example in the case of an annuity of 300 euros with a dependent child, for which the ICI would have been 22,7 euros). On the most luxurious homes, on the other hand, it will come to pay the equivalent of an average salary (1.144 euros with a cadastral income of 2.000 euros and no children, a good 407 euros more than the old ICI).
These Treasury calculations, however - while taking into account the revaluation of cadastral income at 60% - assume that both taxes have the same rate at 4 per thousand. Now, already for ICI this was not realistic, given that before the abolition the national average was 4,8. However, the risk is that with the IMU the municipalities go much further. According to the Observatory of the Uil territorial services, 13 provincial capitals have already decided to raise the threshold on the first house above 5 per thousand. The final verdict on the new municipal rates will arrive by 30 September and the effects will be felt on the December Imu installment, including the adjustment.
On the first houses, the municipalities will be able to reduce or raise the rate by two points, i.e. from 2 to 6 per thousand. The real bloodletting will come though on second homes: for these properties there is no deduction and the rate is fixed to 7,6 per thousand, but according to the latest estimates in some cities it could even reach a maximum of 10,6 per thousand.
