Cigarettes, the pack of 20 increases by 70 cents: excise duties rise – Corriere.it

The first draft of the 2023 budget bill, approved on Monday by the council of ministers, contains 136 articles, some of which only have the title because the text has yet to be finalized. Most of the work is done and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is even more convinced than the day before: Proud of the work of this government and of a maneuver written in record time. The Prime Minister defines the courageous and concrete maneuver, which pays attention to the point and offers a vision of economic priorities. The summary of the envisaged measures: Promote growth, help the most fragile, invest in families, increase social justice, support our productive fabric, bet on the future. To conclude: Forward with your head held high. And the updated Draft Budgetary Plan should have arrived in Brussels yesterday evening.

The increase in the excise duty on cigarettes

Among the innovations contained in the draft of the maneuver is the increase in excise duty on cigarettes: in 2023 it will be 36 euros per thousand cigarettes. In practice, the 20-cigarette pack will average just over 70 cents. The excise duty will rise again in 2024, to 36.5 euros, and in 2025 to 37 euros per thousand cigarettes. Stop, however, for two years, the adjustment of fines to the Istat index. In consideration of the exceptional nature of the economic situation, the draft states that the biennial update of administrative fines has been suspended for 2023 and 2024.

Next week the meeting between Meloni and Calenda

On the internal front, yesterday’s novelty is the opening of Carlo Calenda to the premier. If Renzi had spoken of a budget law that is neither meat nor fish, the leader of Azione first defines the maneuver as a joke, primarily for centre-right voters, then, however, proposes a meeting: I think Meloni is very capable and intelligent. I expect it to pick up a very structured stimulus, she says as she presents the Third Pole counter-maneuver. The possible dialogue starts uphill. With the biting irony of the Undersecretary for Program Implementation Giovanbattista Fazzolari: If Calenda has a truly brilliant idea we will put it in the Budget law. Unfortunately they have not arrived so far, otherwise we would have looted them. Mariastella Gelmini is indignant: Fazzolari respects the role of the opposition. Action and Iv presented concrete proposals. Yet, despite the difficult start, dialogue seems possible: from Palazzo Chigi we learn that the meeting between the premier and Calenda will take place next week.

Cut tax on tips

A tax cut on the tips that customers of bars and restaurants leave to waiters is also on the way. The amount, which constitutes taxable income, will now be taxed at a preferential rate of 5% which replaces the normal personal income tax rates and local income surcharges. The reduced levy, which must be withheld by the employer, is applied for a quota not exceeding 25% of the annual income and up to a maximum of 50,000 euros. Favorable rules also apply to occasional work. The annual ceiling rises from 5,000 to 10,000 euros. And it also applies to services in the agricultural sector that do not exceed 45 days in the calendar year. In the health chapter, 200 million more are appearing to increase the compensation for personnel who work in the emergency room. Finally, the reliefs for under 36s who buy a house have been extended.