(Finance) – It’s a battle in the House over budget law. Of the more than 3,000 amendments that arrived last Wednesday, of which around two thousand were accepted, only a few remain 450. In detail yesterday at 17, at the end of the term, I am received 200 reports from the majority (95 Fdi, 54 Lega, 40 FI, 11 Noi Moderati) and 250 from the opposition which will be submitted to the scrutiny of the House Budget Committee. But since the blanket is short, the possibility of a further skimming of the amendments is not excluded in order to be able to include the changes in the 400 million dowry foreseen for Parliament, a budget that reaches 700 million counting that for the ministries
Over the next few days, the Accounting offices will work on the opinions and the Budget Commission has already reconvened on Wednesday to start work on the amendments. Voting is scheduled from Thursday through the weekend with theaim to arrive in the Chamber on Tuesday 20 December.
From minimum pensions to smart working to superbonus and payback for healthcare, there are several issues on the table. And while the CGIL starts a protest in the squares of Italy from today until Friday 16th against the measures currently envisaged by the budget bill, there are still several issues to be resolved.
I’m 95 amendments reported by the Brothers of Italy to the maneuver in the Budget Committee. Among the proposals, in addition to the suspension of the payback for healthcare companies, also the reduced rate for agricultural diesel and the extension of smart working for fragile workers and working parents with children under the age of 14. Funds for STEM (scientific) subjects in the school as well as the extension of resources for Radio Radicale broadcasts. There is also a fund ‘for the creation of the Youth Games’, with a budget of 20 million euros. And again, an increase from 8 to 10 euros of the tax exemption for electronic meal vouchers, relief for the hiring of apprentices, funds for school construction by the municipalities and extension of the social bonus also in the form of credits for tenants in social housing . The package of amendments also includes a contribution to the municipalities for the construction of new gas storage plants, discounts on diesel excise duties for bus rental companies, reopening of the bonus for the recovery of brainpower, new rules on performance bonuses, measures for the early retirement of journalists from newspapers in crisis and a 5% cut in VAT on heat pumps. On the paper front, 18 App will certainly change the amendment by the president of the culture commission, Federico Mollicone. “The amendment – said Mollicone – will be reformulated in order to give continuity to the Charter, but with the changes that we will share with the ministry”. It is probable that an Isee threshold will be entered for the bonus.
Between 54 proposals indicated by the League to the manoeuvre figure the VAT cut on pellets (now at 22%) support for the safety sector but also one concerning air quality with interventions to reduce pollution. No proposed modifications reported by the Carroccio on the front of the Pos or on the cash roof, instead a series of extensions of concessions for the earthquake victims enter.
Always on the front of the majority Forza Italia aims to raise minimum pensions: a fund of 500 million euros starting from 2023 for “interventions to revise the mechanism for indexing minimum pensions and measures to counter the negative effects of inflationary tensions”. But also a contribution exemption of up to 8 thousand euros next year for new permanent hires and the transformation of fixed-term contracts for the under 36s. These are the flagship proposals that emerged from the Arcore summit with Silvio Berlusconi. Among the amendments reported by the Azzurri also support for the security and school sectors, the introduction of mechanisms to unblock the transfer of Superbonus tax credits, the extension of tax credits for investments in the ZES, measures on the financing of universities .
Instead, the women’s option, minimum wage and health care are i main issues covered by the amendments to the maneuver reported by the Democratic Party. “Our proposals to correct and improve a budget law that we deem unfair and inadequate to the country’s needs have been signaled and are now available to the government and the majority if they seriously want to open a real debate in Parliament – announced the leader of the Democratic Party in the Chamber Debora Serracchiani and the group leader in the Budget Committee Ubaldo Pagano –. Among our priorities is certainly the question of the Women’s Option: we will fight in defense of our amendments to guarantee the possibility of retiring at 58 for women, thus widening the potential audience with respect to the absurd discrimination introduced by the government. In particular, we also ask that the resources made available to Parliament are not pulverized and directed to a series of micro-interventions, but centered on fundamental issues: reduction of taxes on labour, minimum wage, increase in funds for public health , fight against hydrogeological instability, support for local authorities. On these and other issues there are timely and detailed proposals from the Democratic Party to combat inequalities, support workers and pensioners, guarantee rights”.
The Third Pole declares war on “microtaxes”. Eliminate the tax surcharge on the motor vehicle tax, the taxes and surcharges for colleges and universities, the fees for operating licenses, the professional license fee or the municipal surcharge on passenger boarding fees on aircraft. This is what one of the 44 amendments presented by the Third Pole provides to the maneuver that should be included in the reported ones.
The Five Stars movement puts focus on Citizenship income, workers and businesses. “With the amendments it has signaled, the 5 Star Movement intends to make improvements to a cowardly, courageless budget law, which opens a war on the poor and the least. Among our priorities are the defense of the Citizenship Income, which the Right eliminates the purchasing power of workers and pensioners at a time when 700,000 more poor people are estimated in 2023. For this reason, we propose the establishment of a fund for the tax reduction of the minimum wage, which must be at least 9 euros gross per hour, and a 200% revaluation for those who receive a pension equal to or less than four times the minimum”. This is what Francesco Silvestri, group leader of the M5S in the Chamber, and Daniela Torto, pentastellata group leader in the Budget Committee, say in a note. Among the measures reported by the M5S – reads the note – also “strengthening of tax credits 4.0, stabilization of the Southern tax relief from 2023 and extension of the tax credit recognized to companies in the South that purchase new capital goods, in such a way as to to meet a sector practically excluded from the Maneuver. Against rules that act as a driving force for tax evasion, – explain Silvestri and Torto – we propose the reintroduction of the cashback starting from 1 June 2023 “. An amendment to the budget law for the extension until the end of the current school year of the teaching staff and Ata hired to deal with the covid emergency was also presented by the Five Stars.
Union demands
Increase wages by detaxing increases in national contracts, bringing the deduction to 5% for wages up to 35,000 euros to recover at least one month’s salary, and introducing an automatic mechanism for indexing deductions to inflation (so-called recovery of the fiscal drain). It is also requested to confer protection on all forms of work, assigning a general value to the national collective agreements, thus sanctioning a minimum wage and universal regulatory rights; to eliminate forms of precarious work for a single job placement contract with training content. We also need a tax reform that respects the principle of progressiveness and the taxation of extra profits that generates resources for an extraordinary contribution of solidarity. And what the CGIL is announcing the mobilization. The union also aims at the revaluation of pensions; resources for the right to education, for healthcare that has faced and is facing the dramatic effects of the pandemic; to cancel the Fornero Law and introduce: flexible exit from work starting from the age of 62, recognition of the different burdens of work, the guarantee pension for young people and for those with discontinuous and “poor” careers, recognition of work of care, the recognition of gender differences, leaving with 41 years of contributions. For the CGIL, “in line with the unitary platforms, the following are necessary: real reforms, inspired by the criteria of solidarity and social justice, based on the quality and stability of work, on safety in the workplace and on new industrial and energy policies capable to envisage a future for the country, on digital transformation and green reconversion, on a stronger and more qualified welfare state”.