With the 2024 Irpef reform, higher municipal and regional surtaxes

Heavier municipal and regional surcharges with the Irpef reform, this is the risk highlighted by the Unified State-Regions Conference in the report of last November 9th.
A concrete risk that employees could run by finding higher taxes to be paid to the Municipalities and Regions in their 2024 paychecks.
The Irpef reform, as we already know, will merge the first and second brackets of income, bringing the current four rates (and related brackets) to the three scheduled for next year.
The 2024 Budget Law, in fact, implementing the enabling law for tax reform, has provided for the reform of the Irpef to broaden the range of workers with medium or low incomes, who can benefit from the first rate of taxation on their paychecks.
The other side of the coin, however, is that in this way Regions and Municipalities could increase the surtaxes, nullifying the benefits in the pay slip.
Let's try to understand how the adjustment of Irpef rates could lead to a higher tax levy by local authorities, making tax relief almost invisible.
read also How the Irpef changes in the pay slip and how much more you earn in 2024 With the 2024 Irpef reform, higher municipal and regional surcharges Irpef reform, how does income taxation change? The hidden risk of the Irpef reform Municipal and regional surcharges, why could they increase? Irpef reform, how does income taxation change? The remodulation of the Irpef rates and brackets is only scheduled for 2024, but only while waiting for the Government's main objective to be achieved, i.e.
the flat tax for everyone.
How are taxes lowered? The first and second Irpef brackets will be unified under a single rate, 23%, while the other two, the third and fourth, remain unchanged.
For incomes between 15,000 and 28,000, for which a rate of 25% is currently envisaged, the rate envisaged for incomes up to 15,000 euros will be applied, i.e.
23%.
This is a novelty that had been made known for some time and the new Irpef rates will be as follows: 23% for incomes up to 28,000 euros; at 35% for incomes between 28,000 and 50,000 euros; to 43% for incomes above 50,000 euros.
It is, therefore, a tax benefit that everyone can benefit from (except for incomes up to 15,000 for which taxation remains unchanged), given that a lower tax of 2% will apply to incomes between 15,000 and 28,000 euros.
The hidden risk of the Irpef reform What was not considered in the study of the Irpef reform is the impact it will have on the revenues of Regions and Municipalities.
According to the Unified State-Regions Conference, in fact, the merging of the first and second Irpef brackets entails a loss of revenue for local authorities that is significantly higher than what has been quantified.
This, consequently, could lead to municipal and regional surtaxes being adjusted upwards, in order to plug the loss and safeguard budget balances.
The increase in question, underlines the Conference, is conditional on the revision of the rules of the additional Irpef which, based on what has been clarified by the Mef, may not even be affected by the reform of the rates and brackets.
Municipal and regional surcharges, why could they increase? The current legislation provides that the brackets and rates of the surcharges are modeled on those envisaged for the Irpef at national level.
This would therefore also entail a transition from four to three rates and brackets for municipal and regional surcharges.
Modeled on national rates, therefore, the surcharges would lead to a loss of revenue for local authorities who, consequently, would be forced to increase the tax burden to make ends meet.
It should be specified that the 2024 Budget Law, which provides for the reform of the Irpef, has yet to pass approval by Parliament and could still be modified by 31 December.
In fact, at the moment, the mayors would have presented the request to leave the brackets and rates at local level unchanged for 2024 too and the Mef would have accepted the request.
In fact, if this last hypothesis were to occur, we would see the Irpef go from four to three rates, while the municipal and regional surcharges would remain modulated on four rates and related brackets.