Photo: Ansa
Dario Martini
They call it “Mamdani tax”, to give it an elegant impression. Or, more simply, “patrimonial”. Leftists insist, Elly Schlein and Nicola Fratoianni quote it at every opportunity. Giuseppe Conte doesn’t do that, but never misses an opportunity to blame the budget, and accuse the government of taking money from the poor to give to the rich. Roberto Fico, candidate from the broad camp in Campania, also chimed in: «We have to start from a basic assumption, which is actually the principle of solidarity contained in our Constitution, namely the proportionality of taxes. So those who have more must give to those who have less so that their country develops. The assets? We are talking about a topic that has the same principles as the redistribution of wealth between regions of a country. Areas that have shortages must grow and their wealth must be distributed. I will always speak about the distribution of wealth for the purpose of greater growth for the whole country and for all people.” An impoverished crusade was carried out precisely in the days in which the Italian Brothers asked him for information about the ships, or rather on the “gozzo” (as defined by the M5S staff), moored in the military port of Nisida in Naples apparently without permission (a question was asked of the Minister of Defense Crosetto precisely to ascertain whether this state of affairs was true or not).
What was surprising, for the center-right, was the fact that after three budgets in which the government focused on the weakest sections of society, this time the center-left launched an offensive against maneuvers aimed at helping the middle class. The Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, disagreed, and stated: «We were slaughtered for trying to help not the rich, but those who earn enough. So we need to understand what is meant by rich, if rich is someone who has a gross income of 45,000 euros per year, that is, more than 2,000 euros net per month, Istat, the Bank of Italy and the Parliamentary Budget Office (the three institutions that criticize the Budget, ed.) have a slightly different conception of life… We have intervened in the middle class this year because the most disadvantaged classes have received attention in recent years, so we have put in about 18 billion in the last year and we have delivered it this year with an income of less than 35,000 euros. This year – continues the owner of Via XX Settembre – we have made further efforts and also covered the revenue range of up to 50,000 euros. Considering the multi-year horizon, this seems to me to be a completely sound logic.” It should be remembered that all this controversy arises from the fact that the Irpef rate will be reduced from 35 to 33% in the income range from 28 to 50 thousand euros gross (approximately 2,400 euros net per month). But in reality the biggest Irpef discount with benefits also for high earners is not this budget law, but the one implemented in December 2021 when Mario Draghi was at the Palazzo Chigi. Then there were three tariff adjustments: the 41% tariff was cancelled, the second 38% tariff was reduced by 3 points, the third tariff was reduced by 27% by 2 points. The benefit was almost double what we get today: 765 euros (which is now actually about 440 euros. But back then, when the Pd and M5S supported the government of national unity (FdI was the only opposition party) they did not dare to cry foul.
Today the context has changed.
Fico&Co insists on the government’s narrative of rewarding the rich rather than thinking about the poor. Schlein emphasized: “The right as always helps those who are already richer and forgets about those who struggle and remain marginalized,” he said at the National Congress of Democratic Youth. Giuseppe Conte uses the same rhetoric with some subtle corrections: «This is a government of taxes, which pits the last against the second from the last». And the Avs of Nicola Fratoianni and Angelo Bonelli promised: «We will bring assets to the allied table after Regionals». A proposal they knew well would be a dead end. Giorgia Meloni clarified this in recent days: «With us in government there will never be any assets».
