They've had a couple of weeks to absorb the emotional blow, now Italy's wealthy retirees have to reach for their wallets. The sting on the golden checks decided by the fastest financial maneuver in history starts today, approved in mid-July after just two days of parliamentary passages. They call it a "solidarity contribution", but in fact it is an additional withholding that will cut thousands of checks until 31 December 2014. Treatments that exceed 90 thousand euros per year will have to pay 5% on the excess. Above 150 thousand euros a year, on the other hand, a new bracket is triggered and the contribution rises to 10%. Also in this case the rate is calculated on the sum that exceeds the threshold.
All for a revenue that will not significantly strengthen the state coffers, contributing minimally to the longed-for goal of a balanced budget in 2014. From the new contribution from pensioners with deep pockets, the Treasury will earn just 18 million euros this year, a figure that will drop further next year, down to 12 million.
But there is also important news on another of the most controversial measures among those contained in the maneuver. In this case it is not a real novelty, since in most of the country they have started paying for about fifteen days now. Yet there still seems to be a lot to say about the eternal return of the health care bill. In its latest version, the tax is 10 euros for specialist services and 25 euros for white codes in the emergency room.
Tomorrow the Regions will meet the Government to find an agreement on how to manage the provision, which risks being too penalizing for citizens. Above all, we will discuss how to find the resources that allow the ticket to be frozen at least until the end of the year. On this point the pressure from the League is strong. In particular of the Minister of Simplification, Roberto Calderoli, who has already announced his intention to "represent in the next Council of Ministers the proposal to remove the ticket by finding financial coverage in an increase in the price of tobacco".
Another hot source is that of the liberalization of shop opening hours in art cities. Confesercenti raises its voice and lets it be known that the provision "puts at risk over 30 small businesses", giving a "further advantage to large-scale distribution". The latest cry of alarm instead comes from CGIL, CISL, UIL and FIALP, protagonists of a showdown against the closure of the ICE, "which has definitively put an end to public support for promotional activities abroad ”.
