From ISEE to "higher" salaries, the parties' assault on the budget begins

Following the remarks of Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti , the budget plan officially opened yesterday, August 23, at the Rimini Meeting. And the majority parties have all begun to plant their flags.

Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini began raising the bar (and then there'll still be funding to cover, which still needs to be found): "There's an issue we're working on with Giorgetti," he said. "Many bonuses aren't reaching the middle classes because there's the ISEE calculation method, and if your ISEE isn't low enough, you don't get a bonus. They calculate the ISEE, and if you own a property, you're rich, and you're out. In my opinion, that's crazy. At least the primary residence should be removed from the calculation. And then we need a tax amnesty to resolve the millions of disputes pending between Italians, the tax authorities, and the Italian tax authorities."

The League also believes it is necessary to raise the flat tax ceiling and index pension increases. In recent days, Undersecretary of Labor Claudio Durigon has also emphasized the issue of pensions (here, work is underway to halt the increase in the retirement age, review early retirement options, and strengthen supplementary pensions) and support for contract renewals, including incentive/tax relief mechanisms.

For the League's undersecretary for social security, the so-called Giorgetti bonus is also "fundamental," a measure that strengthens workers' freedom, whether it means staying in their job or retiring early.

For its part, Forza Italia, along with its other deputy prime minister, Antonio Tajani, is pushing for further reductions in personal income tax: "First, the budget must reduce personal income tax from 35% to 33% for incomes up to €60,000. It's also true that we've had extraordinary results on employment, but now we need to raise wages," the Forza Italia leader insisted. With the budget, Marco Osnato, the economic director of the Forza Italia party and chairman of the Chamber of Deputies' Finance Committee, added in an interview with IlSussidiario.net ahead of the Rimini meeting, "we have the opportunity to make a further effort by targeting those identified as the middle class. The goal is to reduce the rate from 36% to 33% for incomes up to €60,000; I believe it's an achievable goal."