Immediate help for bills and extension of flexibility when leaving work. Pension reform postponed. In the economic menu of Meloni also flat tax and amnesty on the folders

Renew the flexibility measures when leaving work (Ape Sociale and Option Donna) with the Financial Maneuver, postponing the reform of pensions on the axis of guaranteeing young people and those who will receive the check only on the basis of the contribution regime. Strong attack on the Basic incomewhich was a “defeat” in terms of activation at work, while “economic support for truly fragile individuals not in a position to work” remains “a must”. A three-point tax planwith the long-term goal of lowering the tax wedge for workers and businesses by five points: extension of the flat tax for VAT numbers and introduction on the incremental part of income; amnesty tax; fight againstevasion tax with a lens on the Revenue Agency, which will be judged for what is actually recovered and not for the disputes sent to taxpayers. A not too veiled attack on the ECB which is withdrawing its stimuli at a time of high inflation and economic slowdown. Adjustments to the Pnrr, but limited to acknowledging the rising prices of raw materials, and a commitment to accelerate its implementation “without waste”. Immediate interventions on expensive-bills, widening the mesh of productivity bonuses and fringe-benefits to increase the purchasing power of families. Here are the pillars of the economic action of the Meloni government, listed in the speech of the premier in the Chamber for confidence.

Immediate interventions on bills, plus fringe benefits for household income

Meloni acknowledges the progress made in Europe thanks to the efforts of the Draghi government, but it is not enough to counter the energy price increases. Hence, the first commitment of the government, as widely anticipated given the situation of the public finances and the trajectory of the economic slowdown, will focus on renewing aid to businesses and families on bills and fuel. “An impressive financial commitment that will drain a large part of the available resources, and will force us to postpone other measures that we would have liked to have already started in the next budget law”, Meloni said in the Chamber. The agenda from this point of view is dictated by the various measures fielded by the previous government: only i tax credits 40% for energy-intensive companies and 30% for others (also extended to small businesses and shops) and benefit from 30 cents at the petrol pump for those who fill up, they take away 5-6 billion. We then reason to make the social bonus in bills, which now goes through the ISEE request. To see, depending on how many resources will be drawn immediately from the treasure left by Draghi of 10 billion and from the European funds that can be diverted to these items, what the fate of the one-off payments already detached (first 200 and then 150 euros, for the lowest incomes). “Today our priority must be to put a stop to expensive energy and accelerate in every way the diversification of supply sources and national production – says Meloni – Our seas have gas fields that we have a duty to fully exploit. our nation, in particular the South, is the paradise of renewables, with its sun, wind, the heat of the earth, tides and rivers. A heritage of green energy too often blocked by bureaucracy and incomprehensible vetoes “.

In the package of interventions to immediately support the income of families, the premier also indicates other ways. In fact, you mention the reduction of taxes on productivity bonusesà, the further raising of the exemption threshold of the so-called fringe benefits (just raised to 600 euros, with the possibility of also reimbursing the costs for utilities) and the strengthening of corporate welfare. “At the same time we must be able to broaden the audience of primary goods benefiting from VAT reduced to 5%. Concrete measures, which we will detail in the next budget law, on which we are already working “, assures him.

The passage on the “gamble” of the ECB

Meloni takes up the figures of the economic slowdown and inflation. And in that passage he makes his own the criticisms of the action of the European Central Bank, which is raising rates precisely to counter the high prices. “A decision – says Meloni, addressing directly to an institution independent of politics by statute – considered by many to be risky and which risks having repercussions on bank lending to households and businessesand which is added to the one already assumed by the Central Bank itself to put an end, starting from 1 July 2022, to the program for the purchase of fixed income securities on the open market, creating an additional difficulty for those Member States that have a high public debt “. Responding directly to the doubts of the markets, Meloni therefore remembers the”fundamentals of our economy, which remain solid despite everything: we are among the few European nations in constant primary surplus, ie the state spends less than it collects, net of interest on debt. The private savings of Italian families have exceeded the threshold of 5 trillion euros and, in a climate of confidence, could support investments in the real economy. But even more than these already significant data, the still unexpressed potential that Italy has are important “. So much so that” if this government manages to do what it has in mind, betting on Italy could be not only a safe investment, but maybe even a bargain “.

Connected to the commitment to attract foreign investment is the commitment to spend the money of the NRR quickly and without waste. Meloni takes up the data from Nadef to remember how the grounding of investments is already overdue. He envisages an “agreed” action with the EU to obtain “the necessary adjustments to optimize spending, especially in light of the rise in the prices of raw materials and the energy crisis. Because these materials are faced with a pragmatic, not ideological approach”. But he does not go further on requests for changes that would inevitably lead to uncertainty on the markets and diplomatic tug of war. He therefore speaks of necessary infrastructural investments “with the aim of reconnecting not only the North to the South but also the Tyrrhenian coast to the Adriatic coast and the Islands with the rest of the Peninsula”. And he indicates the will to introduce “a safeguard clause of the national interest, also from an economic point of view, for the public infrastructure concessionssuch as highways and airports “.

Pensions: renew flexibility on leaving, then focus on young people

As in the case of the bills emergency, Meloni’s path traced out on the social security system is one of immediate short-range actions and more extensive only in a second moment. “The priority for the future will be a pension system that also guarantees the younger generations and those who receive the allowance only on the basis of the contribution regime,” he says. But in the immediate future, in view of the return to the Fornero rules with the new year, the menu is of full continuity: “We intend to facilitate exit flexibility with mechanisms compatible with the retention of the social security system, starting, in the short time available to the next budget law, from the renewal of the measures expiring at the end of the year “. It means moving forward with Ape Sociale and Option Donna.

The attack on citizenship income

On the measure-symbol of the M5S, Meloni (who recognizes that there are “diversified positions” in the Hall) starts from the quote from Pope Francis to unhinge it: “Poverty cannot be fought with welfare, the door to a man’s dignity is the work “, remembers the premier. And therefore the relapse is soon said: “We want to maintain and, where possible, increase the necessary Economic support for those who are actually fragile and not in a position to work: I am thinking of retirees in difficulty, of the disabled whose degree of protection must be increased in every way, and also of those without income who have minor children to take care of. They will not be denied the necessary aid of the state. But for others, for those who are able to work, the solution cannot be citizenship income, but work, training and accompaniment to work, also making full use of the resources and possibilities made available by the Social Fund. European. Because for how it was designed and built, the DRC represented a defeat for those who were able to do their part for Italy, as well as for themselves and for their family “.Inps has certified that in the first nine months of 2022 the disbursements for the DRC exceeded six billion: between January and September 1,489,051 families received at least one installment of income or citizenship pension for 3,403,945 people involved and an average allowance of 581, 96 euros.

Precisely on family support, Meloni puts in place other commitments: “To increase the amounts of the single and universal allowance” and “to help young couples to obtain a mortgage for their first home”. Again: “We want to encourage female employment in every wayrewarding those companies that adopt policies that offer effective solutions to reconcile home-work times and supporting Municipalities to guarantee free nurseries that are open until the closing time of shops and offices “.

Flat tax, amnesty, evasion: the tax plan

The fiscal chapter is introduced by Meloni by the promise to companies of a “structural” simplification and deregulation administrative procedures to stimulate the economy, growth and investments “. In the long run, it promises” a cut of at least five points in the wedge in favor of businesses and workers, to lighten the tax burden of the former and increase the payroll of second “. Employment incentives are also being studied with” a fiscal mechanism that rewards activities with a high density of work. ‘The more you hire, the less you pay’, we have summarized it, but obviously this must not detract from the necessary support for technological innovation “.

He therefore proposes a “new fiscal pact” on “three pillars”. In the first place he “reduce the tax burden on businesses and households through a reform in the name of equity”. Here is the menu: a “reform of the personal income tax with progressive introduction of the family quotient and extension of the flat fee for VAT numbers from the current 65 thousand euros to 100 thousand euros in turnover. And, alongside this, the introduction of the flat tax on the increase in income compared to the maximum reached in the previous three years: a virtuous measure, with limited impact for the state coffers and which can be a strong incentive for growth “. In second place: “A tax respite to allow citizens and businesses (especially SMEs) in difficulty to regularize their position with the tax authorities. “On the plate there is a replica of the “balance and excerpt” which allows you to pass a sponge on the small debts of the past entrusted to the Collection (the two previous editions have set limits first to one thousand and then to five thousand euros) and one new scrapping which allows to settle the most recent debts with the tax authorities with a discount (penalties and interest reduced to 5%). Finally “a vigorous fight against tax evasion (starting from total tax evaders, large companies and large VAT frauds) accompanied by a change in the criteria for evaluating the results of the Revenue Agency, which we want to anchor to the amounts actually collected and not to simple disputes, as incredibly happened so far ” .

A mention also goes to those “who were often, and unjustly, treated as children of a lesser God”, or “those nearly 5 million self-employedamong artisans, traders, freelancers, who constitute a backbone of the Italian economy “to whom” we “want to recognize adequate safeguards in line with those rightly guaranteed to employees”.