(Finance) – The House of Representatives gave the final green light to budget bill with 200 votes in favour, 112 votes against and 3 abstentions. The measure, passed at second reading in Montecitorio without changes compared to the text approved in the Senate, it therefore becomes law. Among the main measures contained is the extension of the cut wedge tax for 2024 and the reform ofIrpef which goes from 4 to 3 rates. Alone, these two measures represent half of the 28 billion euros allocated by the budget.
The cut was confirmed in the law tax wedge, already in force since July (6 points less for incomes up to 35 thousand euros and 7 for those up to 25 thousand). But the reduction will not be applied to thirteenth and it is financed only for 2024. Then there is the new Irpef, which goes from four to three rateswith the merging of the first two brackets (the 23% rate will be applied on incomes up to 28 thousand euros): the combined effect of the wedge and Irpef, according to the Treasury, will increase employees’ paychecks by up to 1,298 euros per year.
As for the pensions back to Quota 103but with penalties: 62 years of age and 41 years of contributions remain, but the allowance will be recalculated using the contributory method and with a maximum monthly ceiling of approximately 2,250 euros. According to estimates, it will allow early retirement for 17 thousand people in 2024. During the work in the Senate, the correction also arrived on the disputed cut to the pensions of healthcare personnel, local authorities, offices judicial and teachers. The rights acquired as of 31 December 2023 will be preserved and old-age pensions will not be affected.
“A maneuver with no future, financed in deficit, whose most significant measures such as the cut in the tax wedge and the Irpef reform are valid only for 2024, just enough time to bypass the European elections”, declared the secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schleinin his explanation of vote on the maneuver in the Chamber.
With this maneuver and with the resources available “we have tried to give more money to those who produce and to companies and to get away from the logic of bonuses and bribes that have done so much harm to the country”, instead stated the leader of the League, Richard Molinari. Molinari recalled “the cut in the tax wedge for 14 million workers. Those who criticize us today had claimed the cut in the wedge by two points as a great success, we reach seven points”.