MILANO – Second round of hearings on the Meloni government maneuver. A document that the government is already ready to re-discuss, starting with the possible reverse on the 60 euro limit for the sanctions on shopkeepers who do not accept digital payments via Pos: yesterday the Prime Minister said that it could even go down. But pension matters are also in the balance, with the majority pressing to review the very penalizing mechanism of Female option. Few parliamentarians at the start of the Bankitalia hearing: four present (including the president), three remotely out of the 50 of the assembled Budget commissions of the Chamber and Senate. And clear negative indications are coming from via Nazionale, right on the hottest spots: cash cap and pos are used to fight crime, while the flat tax penalizes employees.
Istat, Citizenship income cut by one in five
The reduction in the duration of the citizen’s income in 2023 will affect “about 846,000 individuals, i.e. just over one in five beneficiaries”: said the president of the National Institute of Statistics, Gian Carlo Blangiardo, in a hearing in the Chamber on budget maneuver 2023. If we consider only the beneficiaries aged between 18 and 59, the cut will affect more than a third of them, explains the president.
“The reduction in the duration – explains the president of Istat – would mainly involve small households (in particular, it involves more than half of single individuals) and the male component, and would involve almost half of the beneficiaries aged between 45 and 59 years old,” he added. Furthermore, the reduction “includes a third of NEETs between the ages of 18 and 29 who are beneficiaries of the Income, and is characterized by slightly higher levels of education than the rest of the beneficiaries belonging to the same age group”.
Flat tax, Bank of Italy: “Further penalty for Irpef subjects, increases discrepancies”
In maneuver “some of the measures not connected to the energy emergency present critical aspects that the Bank of Italy has repeatedly reported in the past with reference to similar measures. The discrepancy in tax treatment between employees and the self-employed, and within these among those subjected to the flat-rate regime and excluded, it is increased”. This was stated by Fabrizio Balassone, head of the Bank of Italy’s economic structure service. “In a period of high inflation, the coexistence of a flat tax regime and one subject to progressiveness such as the irperf entails a further penalty for those subject to the latter”, he added.
Bank of Italy, the Maneuver is worth 39.2 billion. 4 come from extra profits
“39.2 billion is for us the evaluation of the gross amount of the maneuver. We will see if in the next few days there will be further reasoning on this aspect”. This was stated by Fabrizio Balassone, head of the economic structure service of the Bank of Italy in a hearing to the joint budget committees of the House and the Senate on the budget law. Balassone premised that “the technical attachments to the maneuver were made available last Wednesday: I don’t exclude the possibility that there is some rounding off that could be revised”.
“Among the hedges, the main entry measure is the introduction of temporary levies on companies in the energy sector (4 billion next year); on the expenditure side, the greatest savings derive from the modification of the indexation criteria to the cost of living of pensions ( 3.3 billion in 2023 and about 6.5 in each of the following two years, gross of the effects on revenue) “, highlighted Balassone. “Among the measures that increase expenditure, the ones relating to healthcare, public employment and pensions (a total of 4.9 billion in 2023)”
Citizenship income, Bank of Italy: “One million poor without it”
“The introduction of the basic income represented a significant step in the modernization of our country’s welfare system” and according to INPS without income in 2020 there would have been “one million more poor individuals”: said the head of the economic structure service of the Bank of Italy, Fabrizio Balassone, in a hearing in the Chamber on the manoeuvre. The current structure, however, has some critical issues especially as a measure to accompany work, and the “reform announced by the government could strengthen” this aspect, he added.
Bank of Italy: “Cash and fiscal truce against modernization of the country”
“The provisions on cash payments and the introduction of some institutes that reduce the tax burden for non-compliant taxpayers risk coming into conflict with the push towards modernization of the country that animates the Pnrr and with the need to continue to reduce tax evasion”. This was stated by Fabrizio Balassone, head of the Bank of Italy’s economic structure service, during a hearing on the manoeuvre.
Bank of Italy: “Keep the debt reduction target firm”
“The budget policy aims at a further reduction in the debt/product ratio over the planned three-year period. Given the high level of public debt, the aforementioned uncertainty about economic prospects and the high levels of interest rates, maintaining this objective is a necessary choice”. This was stated by Fabrizio Balassone, head of the economic structure service of the Bank of Italy in a hearing to the joint budget committees of the House and the Senate on the budget law.
Cash and Pos, Bankitalia: “Cash ceiling and Pos reduce tax evasion”
“These measures, contrary to what has happened in recent years, go in the direction of facilitating the use of cash”. This was stated by the head of the Bank of Italy’s economic department, Stefano Balassone, speaking at the hearing on the Maneuver on the initiatives envisaged by the government: raising the ceiling on the use of cash from one thousand to 5 thousand euros and stopping the penalties for those who do not accept card payments under 60 euros.
Pos, the government’s cleanup on digital payments: 80% are under 60 euros
by Flavio Bini, Raffaele Ricciardi
He recalled that “compared to 2016, the percentage of transactions made with cash has decreased in Italy while remaining the majority” and therefore remarked that “the limits on the use of cash represent an obstacle for various forms of crime and evasion. Studies have emerged which suggest that higher thresholds favor the shadow economy. There is also evidence that the use of electronic payments would reduce tax evasion”. Balassone recalled that “even the EU recommendations move in this direction”. Furthermore, “the definition of administrative sanctions” for those who refuse digital payments “was included among the goals of the Pnrr for the first half of this year”. Finally, as regards the transaction costs for merchants, “it should be remembered that cash also has costs related to security: thefts, robberies, material errors, insurance. Our estimates indicate that for merchants the cost of cash as a percentage of the value of the transaction is higher than credit and debit cards”.
Pos, the false myths to dispel: commissions in line with Europe and cash is more expensive
by Raffaele Ricciardi
Pnrr, decisive investments and reforms
“The full implementation of the reforms and investments of the Pnrr will be able to make a decisive contribution to economic growth and consequently to the improvement of public finances”. This is what Fabrizio Balassone, head of the Economic Structure Service of the Economics and Statistics Department of the Bank of Italy said, in a hearing before the joint Budget Commissions of the Chamber and the Senate on the budget law.