Budget Law 2024, all tax increases: what Meloni doesn't say

Will the 2024 budget law increase taxes? It is still too early to understand whether the tax burden in Italy will be higher next year, but the Meloni government has certainly included several "surprises" for citizens in the budget.
Taxes – or rather their cut – have always been a workhorse for the centre-right, with the 2024 budget law which is essentially the first to be entirely the work of the current executive, given that the 2023 one was inherited largely by the Draghi government given the very tight deadlines.
In mid-October Giorgia Meloni used three adjectives to describe the work of the "serious, prudent and responsible" Council of Ministers, with the proclamations of the electoral campaign giving way to the harsh reality of public finances and the complex relations with Brussels and with the Markets.
Now that the text has arrived in the Senate, the numbers and provisions are clear also because the Budget law is unlikely to be modified during its parliamentary process given that Prime Minister Meloni would have asked her people not to present amendments.
The 2024 budget law will have a total scope of 24 billion, of which over 15 will be financed thanks to the extra trade deficit; in drafting the economic package, Palazzo Tesoro consequently had to find resources – through cuts or new taxes – for over 8 billion.
read also Budget Law 2024, the (almost) definitive text with all the news Budget Law 2024: the new taxes Giorgia Meloni when talking about the 2024 Budget Law placed a lot of emphasis on the confirmation of the cut to the tax wedge for salaries up to 35,000 euros as already in place: this measure alone will have an impact of 10 billion but, as happened with the last budget, it will only last for one year and there are no certainties of a further extension within twelve months.
If the cut in the tax wedge is time-bound, barring a third confirmation next year when, however, it will hardly be possible to refinance it in deficit, the increase in some taxes envisaged in the Budget law does not appear to have an expiry date.
These are the taxes that will increase in 2024 provided that the text of the budget law does not undergo changes in recent weeks during the various passages in Parliament.
Cigarettes: +10 cents per pack, +3 cents for packs costing less than 5 euros Shredded tobacco: 20 to 30 cents more per pack Female intimate hygiene products, including sanitary pads: VAT from 5 to 10% Diapers: VAT from 5 to 10% Baby food: VAT from 5 to 10% Car seats: VAT from 5 to 22% Short-term rentals: dry tax rate from 21 to 26% Sale of a renovated house with the 110% Superbonus: those who sell a second house renovated with the bonus within ten years will have to pay 26% on the capital gain generated thanks to the sale "Talking bank transfers": the withholding tax rises from 8 to 11% Ivie: the tax on the value of properties located abroad rises from 0.76 to 1.06% of the value of the property Ivafe: the tax rate on the value of financial assets held abroad goes from 2 to 4 per thousand Tourist tax: in 2025 the Municipalities will be able to increase it but at maximum of 2 euros Insurance policies against catastrophe damage: obligation for companies to take out in 2024 Despite resistance from Forza Italia, in the end the Mef confirmed almost all the provisions present in the draft, with the prime minister and the majority taking a good look at the talk about this series of measures: after all, the money has to come out from somewhere.
By adding all these tax increases foreseen by the 2024 budget law, the Meloni government hopes to be able to raise around 1 billion, with further increases – such as cigarettes and tobacco – which will start from 2025.
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