Positive, but sectoral and time-bound interventions: the tax becomes a patchwork of levies
Complex management also for employers, who will have to split income
Key points
Irpef, along with the reduction of the intermediate rate from 35 to 33%, is preparing to embark on a significant number of measures, heterogeneous among themselves, yet united by a distinctive feature: the taxation with substitute rates of specific income components of employees, both in the private and public sectors. These interventions respond to the objective of improving, albeit selectively and temporarily, the disposable income of specific groups of workers in a context of still high inflation.
We are not facing the flat tax, the true tax dream of the political right, but rather a multiplication of 'micro' flat taxes: many, different from each other and also different from those already in force. The Budget Bill in fact introduces - generally for 2026 only - a package of concessions aimed exclusively at employees, public and private, financed with a dowry of 1.7 billion euro.
The declared objective is to support the purchasing power of households by relieving the levy on certain incremental and additional items of wages through taxes replacing Irpef and related surcharges.
The measurements
In detail, for private sector workers with incomes not exceeding 28 thousand euro, a 5% substitute tax will be applied to salary increases resulting from contractual renewals for the two-year period 2025-2026. Also in the private sector, the deduction of taxation on overtime and night work is introduced, which will be subject to a rate of 15%, within the income limit of EUR 40 thousand and with a maximum benefit, in terms of taxable income, of EUR 1.500 euro.A similar measure concerns employees of the tourism sector. In addition, a strengthening is envisaged - for 2026-2027 - of the regulations on the subsidised taxation of productivity bonuses for private employees with incomes not exceeding EUR 80,000: the substitute rate drops to 1 per cent (compared to the current 5 per cent) and the limit of the bonus that can be subsidised rises from EUR 3,000 to EUR 5,000. Finally, for public employees with income up to EUR 50 thousand, a 15% substitute tax is introduced on the bonus, with a maximum benefit of EUR 800.
These measures are in addition to those already in operation - from the flat tax on tips in tourism to the preferential taxation of teachers' private tuition, to the de-taxation of nurses' overtime - and aim to reduce the tax burden on at least some parts of the salary.
