Towards the autumn manoeuvre: spotlights on Irpef, middle class, birth rate

"Reducing the tax burden is a priority of this government. The next Budget Law will also include measures to further lighten the burden on citizens and businesses'. So said Mef Undersecretary Federico Freni in an interview with IlSussidiario.net at the Rimini Meeting. Freni added: 'There is no opposition between the rateization of tax bills and the reduction of Irpef for the middle class. The resources will be found,' he said, 'to do both, while respecting public accounts and, above all, the needs of citizens.

For Freni, 'now is the time for a new instalment plan for tax bills to help millions of honest VAT holders, professionals, traders and artisans who have not been able to pay all their taxes'. "The instalment plan for tax bills," he continued, "is certainly one of them because it gives the State the opportunity to collect certain and lasting resources while helping the taxpayers most in difficulty. We will certainly not open the doors to tax evaders'.

Then there is the birth rate issue. "The falling birth rate intercepts a medium-long term dimension,' Freni said, 'We do not need buffer measures, but the grounding of an organic design. That is exactly what this government has been doing since its first day in office. The strengthening of the single allowance clearly demonstrates this, as do the resources earmarked for working mothers. The next manoeuvre will implement and strengthen this path'.

Still on the subject of manoeuvre, on the labour front, we are looking, resources permitting, at a strengthening of second-level bargaining linked to productivity. Incentives are also being discussed to favour the renewal of collective bargaining agreements. One hypothesis, but an expensive one, is the detaxation of increases.

Between 2025 and 2029 just over 3 million Italian workers, or about 12.5% of the national total, will leave offices and factories to retire. Of these, 1,608,300 are currently employees in the private sector (52.8%), 768,200 work in the public administration (25.2%) and 665,500 are self-employed (21.9%). The estimate comes from the Study Office of the Cgia di Mestre (Venice) based on data from the Excelsior Information System, created by Unioncamere in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour. "These data - underlines the artisan association - leave no doubt: within a few years we will witness a real 'flight' from desks and assembly lines".