Manoeuvre 2026: pensions, parental leave, Irpef and cigarette increase

The central measure of the new budget law looks at the middle class with a lowering of the Irpef tax bracket from 35 to 33 per cent. The rule will weigh 9 billion over three years. The target group should be between 28,000 and 50,000 euro and the benefit would reach a maximum of 440 euro per year. The sterilisation of the Irpef cut will be above 200,000 euro, those between 50 and 200,000 euro will benefit from the rate reduction

"Cigarettes will increase a little, but yes, they will increase," said Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti on the sidelines of the press conference at the end of the CDM, answering whether there is an increase in the cost of cigarettes in the manoeuvre.

The super-amortisation for business support and innovation is back: the total value is EUR 4 billion. Tax credit over three years for companies in the Zes and refinancing of the Nuova Sabatini.

Another year for businesses without the plastic and sugar tax. The two taxes are, in fact, frozen for the whole of 2026.

Confirmed also for next year at 50 per cent the renovation bonus on the first house and at 36 per cent that on the second.

The health sector will gain an extra 2.4 billion Euro in 2026, bringing the National Health Fund, with the funds already allocated by last year's manoeuvre, close to 143 billion Euro. The extra resources will be used for recruitment and to increase the salaries of doctors and nurses by increasing the specificity allowance. On the first front, however, compared to the eve of the event, when a recruitment plan of 25-30 thousand entries was imagined, the numbers are much reduced, that is, only 6300 nurses and about a thousand doctors. As regards the increase in payroll, the increase in nurses' salaries will be 1630 Euro gross per year, that is, 125 Euro per month, while that of doctors should increase by about 3 thousand Euro per year, that is, 230 Euro gross per month.

For the increase of the retirement age, sterilisation is confirmed with an extra month from 2027 and a further 2 from 2028. For minimum pensions, an increase of EUR 20 per month is foreseen.

The collection has a duration of 9 years with bimonthly instalments of the same amount open to all those who have declared and not paid. It will only concern the loads entrusted to the collection by 31 December 2023. There will be no entrance fee and, for the time being, the choice has been not to provide for a minimum instalment of 100 euro.

Among the measures to secure the manoeuvre's coverage, 'we accelerate the alignment of excise duties on diesel and petrol because it is an environmentally harmful subsidy. We have to do it, and at this point we do it by taking advantage of a particularly depressed oil market price situation,' said the economy minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, during the press conference following the Council of Ministers that approved the budget bill.

Banks that do not release the reserves accumulated in the past in order not to pay the 40% on extra profits will be able to do so this year at 27.5%: the rule is optional but then the rate rises and therefore makes the operation decidedly more onerous in the future. This is one of the contents of the rules set out for banks that in fact have four measures. Among these are: IRAP, which rises by two percentage points, the lengthening of the time for the write-down of high-level non-performing loans, and the reduction of the deductible portion of interest expense. On these points, the comparison for a fine-tuning - according to information - is still in progress.