Manoeuvre, Fi insists on 'rich wages' but in two-three years. We the Moderates calls for zero IRPEF for new hires

Reducing Irpef to the middle class, de-taxing performance bonuses and thirteenth month bonuses, raising the tax-free threshold for meal vouchers, zero Irpef for newly hired employees. There is the issue of low wages, with the need to alleviate the burden of taxes, at the centre of many of the proposals delivered to the Ministry of the Economy in view of the next Budget Law. Some are working hypotheses, others mere political desiderata, whose fate will be decided when the framework of available resources is clearer. Once the framework of priorities has been defined, a decision will also be made on the possible contribution from the banks. On which various rumours are beginning to surface about options assessed at the technical tables.

According to Bloomberg Agency, the government aims to collect an additional EUR 1.5 billion from the banks by postponing the suspension of the deduction of deferred tax assets (Dta) for another year. But the Mef clarifies: 'It is only one of the possible options under consideration and at the moment there are no numerical quantifications. We still have to sit down with the banks and discuss the issue'. And Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, asked about this, replies: 'I only learn this now. However, a 'political evaluation' will be carried out, the Mef holder had already clarified. The League is in favour, with Salvini ready to meet with the admen. But the allies are clamouring. FI is not backing down: 'No new taxes, no hypothesis of taxing extra profits, Italian banks are already the most taxed in Europe'. While Fratelli d'Italia is cautious: 'We must study measures that are fair'.

Some indications on the trend of public accounts, meanwhile, come from Bank of Italy data, which certify the drop in public debt in July, down by 14.5 billion to 3,056.3 billion. Tax revenues, on the other hand, increased, reaching EUR 68.3 billion in the same month (+13% compared to 2024), thanks in part to the "effects of a time mismatch in some payment deadlines". In the first seven months, revenues were up 5.3% to EUR 325.6 billion. The Treasury is also awaiting the picture of the national economic accounts that Istat will release on Monday 22. Numbers that will be used to define the estimates of the Documento programmatico di finanza pubblica (Dpfp), the old Nadef. Which this year, according to the majority resolution shared with the oppositions that should be voted between tomorrow and Wednesday in the House and the Senate, should also contain a first taste of the articulation of the manoeuvre measures.

Cutting the second Irpef tax rate to give some oxygen to the middle class is at the top of the government's agenda. While the raising of the tax-free threshold for luncheon vouchers from EUR 8 to EUR 10 is also being studied, the way seems already mapped out for another wage-related measure: the tax relief on productivity bonuses. The detaxation of thirteenth month bonuses, which would require an allocation of more than one billion euro and which the blue leader Tajani does not rule out spreading "over 2-3 years", is more uphill. In order to "guarantee higher salaries", especially for young people, the president of Noi Moderati, Lupi, instead aims to include in the manoeuvre the zeroing of Irpef for five years for newly hired workers. Meanwhile, Friday sees the start of the sovereign debt rating review season with Fitch. Giorgetti remains confident and jokes with journalists who ask him whether Italy deserves a better rating than France, declassified to A+: "Even Italian journalists are better than French ones.