Revolution of the baby bonus, more funds for social safety nets and greater flexibility for municipal budgets. In the background, meanwhile, two controversies flare up: that of Ncd against the social card for foreigners and that of the European Union against the cut in VAT on ebooks. The mosaic of the 2015 Stability Law is becoming ever more changeable and, less than 24 hours after the flurry of amendments approved yesterday in the Budget Committee in the Chamber, another series of novelties arrives today. These too, it should be remembered, are susceptible to further modifications before the final approval of the manoeuvre.
BABY BONUS: ROOF REDUCED FROM 90 EUROS OF INCOME TO 25 ISEE, ALLOWANCE DOUBLE BELOW 7
One of the most important changes compared to the original text concerns the baby bonus, a three-year contribution of 80 euros per month for new mothers. The Government had initially foreseen that all families in which the sum of income did not exceed 90 thousand euros per year were entitled to the bonus. The threshold had immediately appeared disproportionate for a welfare state measure, since workers with salaries exceeding 4 thousand euros per month would also have been included in the audience of beneficiaries. The Executive has therefore decided to completely change course, depositing an amendment in the commission which establishes an Isee income of 25 thousand euros per year as the new limit. Furthermore, the contribution is strengthened for the poorest: the amount of the check will be doubled to 160 euros for those who have an ISEE value of less than 7 thousand euros per year. In essence, the economic value of the measure does not change, but the overall audience of those entitled is reduced by doubling the resources for the most disadvantaged social groups.
SOCIAL SHOCK ABSORBERS: ANOTHER 400 MILLION
With another modification proposal filed today, the Government allocates another 400 million euros in the two-year period 2015-2016 for social safety nets, including the Cig by way of derogation. The coverage is identified for 157,4 million in 2015 through the use of current funds registered in the estimates of the ministries and for 42,6 million in 2015 and 200 million in 2016 from cuts to the Fund for structural economic policy interventions .
MUNICIPALITIES, MORE FLEXIBILITY COMING SOON
As for the amendment which seeks to meet some requests from the Municipalities, the Government does not modify the planned cut of 1,2 billion, but grants local administrations a wider margin of manoeuvre: the mayors will be able to use some revenues (for example urbanization costs) also for current expenditure, not only for investments. Furthermore, the costs for maintaining the judicial offices pass from the Municipalities to the State. The government then increases the period for debt settlement from 10 to 30 years and grants the possibility of renegotiating mortgages by taking on part of the interest. Finally, the Municipalities that choose to join from 2015 will obtain a derogation from the Stability Pact for 5 years.
NCD AND THE SOCIAL CARD CONTROVERSY
On the subject of social cards, the controversy of the New Centre-right does not subside. “The government withdraws the amendment on the social card for foreigners – write in a joint note the NCD group leader in the Chamber, Nunzia De Girolamo, the NCD group leader in the Budget Committee, Paolo Tancredi, and the vice president Barbara Saltamartini -. After the misunderstanding that arose yesterday, we believe it is appropriate for the government to evaluate this request also to better reformulate the amendment itself. Among other things, it is not clear whether the government wants to extend the social card or allocate specific resources to comply with previous obligations and settle the dispute with the post office. There is still time to discuss it”.
The proposed modification in question aims to guarantee the continuity of the social card for EU and non-EU citizens and to experiment it in the 12 municipalities with a population of more than 250 inhabitants. Yesterday the Treasury explained that "the government's amendment to the stability bill does not provide for changes to the personal conditions, including nationality, for accessing the benefit, with respect to current legislation which also provides for non-EU individuals with regular residence permits to long term, the right to the social card”.
Not only that: the ministry had also specified that the measure “has the objective of remedying the situation that has arisen following the non-conversion of the rule contained in article 9 paragraph 15 of Legislative Decree 150/2013 (decree extending terms). This provision guaranteed the continuity of the Carta Acquisti programme, allowing Poste Italiane spa to provide the payment service to those entitled to the social network pending completion of the tender for the new award of the service. The removal of the provision during the conversion of the decree into law would therefore result in the lack of legal ownership for Poste to carry out the service. Poste spa should therefore recover from these indigent subjects the sums disbursed from January 2014 to March 2014, when the company, after winning the tender called by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, stipulated the relative contract (March 24, 2014)”.
EU: YOU CANNOT LOWER THE VAT ON EBOOKS
Finally, the Rome-Brussels tug of war over electronic books. The European Union, which had already spoken out against the subsidized tax, rejected the Italian government's proposal to lower the VAT on eBooks from 22 to 4%, making the rate equal to that of paper books. “The VAT rate on eBooks must be the standard one, which for Italy is 22% – explain the EU Commission -. Otherwise, there would be a violation of EU rules and therefore an infringement procedure against Italy”.
