The measure included in the draft budget law with which the taxation on the use of the company car is increased by over 300%, has caused an outcry from companies in the sector and their associations. In practice, the new law – under discussion in Parliament – shifts the value attributable to the formation of income in the form of benefits for the use of company cars from 30% to 100% which, starting starting next year, they will therefore be taxed at their full value, thus increasing the employee's overall income, with an impact also on contributions and severance pay. The proposal included in the maneuver is worth 513 million in increased revenue for the state.
“Thus the company car market is definitively sinking and around 2 million workers are hit in the pay packet. The Government which, in words with the table on the car, declares that it wants to support the four-wheeler supply chain, is causing it to collapse”, says Aniasa, the association that represents the vehicle rental sector in Confindustria.
The association says it is "shocked by this schizophrenic attitude which confirms the fears of an anti-industrial attitude which seems to animate the choices of this Government". According to Aniasa, the measure is "absurd even from a conceptual point of view, not only the private use of the car but the working one is taxed". The Government, says Aniasa, is contradictory: "if on the one hand the announcement of the cut in the tax wedge intends to increase the money in payrolls, on the other, with these measures, there are serious repercussions on the wage policies of hundreds of thousands of companies in every sector. Not to mention the massive impact on the lower tax revenues generated by the industry”.
But it is not only Confindustria that is protesting. In a joint statement, Anfia, Assilea, Federauto and Unrae strongly stigmatize the proposal, already contained in the first draft of the Budget Law, which for all employees triples the value for tax purposes of cars and mopeds granted for mixed use. “Contrary to widespread clichés, the company car is not a privilege for the rich, but a real working tool, irreplaceable in some cases; proof of this is the fact that around 72% of the market is made up of the lowest segments (A, B, C) certainly not from supercar“, states the note of the four associations.
The associations explain that currently the assignment of the car to employees for mixed use determines a fee subject to taxation, calculated on a flat-rate basis, taking into account a conventional annual distance traveled of 15.000 km, a cost per kilometer defined by the ACI table and a percentage of use "for personal use" of 30%. In other words, account is taken of the fact that out of seven days a week, the car is normally used five days for work purposes and two days for personal use. Personal use (about 30%) is precisely that subject to taxation. Taking it from 30 to 100%, they say, would increase the tax burden and severance pay on companies and would lead to the collapse of company cars, with an impact also on the market for zero or low emission cars.
The appeal of the associations to withdraw or at least modify the law received the first consensus within the same majority, Thursday in Parliament. Alessio Villarosa, undersecretary of the Economy and Davide Gariglio, leader of the Pd group in the Transport Committee of the Chamber, pronounced themselves in favor of the change.
even the Deputy Minister for Economic Development Stefano Buffagni (M5S) asks to "immediately improve the norm on company cars because the workers already pay taxes on those items”, as stated on his Facebook page.
Italy Viva has instead already stated that “he will work in Parliament to eliminate this useless tax as well which damages workers and companies”, as Senator Eugenio Comincini, a member of the Budget commission of Palazzo Madama, wrote in a tweet.
