The Coming Year

January 2018. General elections have not taken place yet. The Morandi bridge is still standing, the Ilva issue is all at sea. Hyper amortization is in force, citizenship income and the reformation of the Fornero law are only present in electoral programs. In a world on the run, eve 365 days are enough to record many changes. What can we expect, then, from the year which has just begun?

Tow measures caused the alarm to sound. On one hand, the possible VAT increases adding up to 23 billion euro in 2020 and almost 29 in 2021 and 2022. Without taking action, the reduced 10% rate would increase to 13% as from 2020, while the ordinary 22% rate would increase to 25.2% in 2020 and 26.5% in 2021. On the other hand, the abolition of the reduces 50% income tax rate for non-profit organizations. Among provisions, citizenship income and the Rule of 100 will be enforced as from April 1st, like the cut on high pensions, valid as from 2019 for the next five years and structured in five income brackets.

As from April 30th the new “real asset sale program” will have to be launched, aimed at monetizing the State’s real estate properties currently not in use, to obtain 950 million euro in 2019 and 300 more in 2020 and 2021. Further savings are envisaged with the prohibition, in force until November 15th, 2019, of employing personnel in ministries, non-economic public offices, fiscal agencies and universities. The web tax has also been introduced; this will be paid, according to some criteria concerning earnings, to those offering digital services. The intervention also foresees an 800-million euro fund against hydro-geological disruption, to be increased to 900 million in 2020 and 2021. But in order to finance this fund, investments of central administrations, the Community policy fund and the State Railway fund will have to be reduced.

Happy new year to all, therefore, and let us hope that in 2019 the economic upswing that we are looking forward to will begin.