Because it is like scoundrels to call the Aid bis decree an alms
What is in the Aid bis decree. Giuliano Cazzola's analysis
Political struggle – especially during an election campaign – is never a gala dinner. It can therefore be expected that the propaganda between opposing parties and alignments will slip over the top and present the proposals of others in caricatural forms and perhaps exaggerate some difficulties of the competitors (usually this happens when before the vote a guarantee notice arrives to an influential personality of the forces in the field). But a sense of proportion would be recommended in any case to prevent criticism, even if legitimate and understandable, from leading to the most blatant cialtroneria. This would be all the more necessary for those social subjects who do not present symbols and lists to participate in the elections: for example, the trade unions.
Where does this premise lead? To reiterate that, in my opinion, it is a cialtroneria to define '' alms '' some measures provided for in the Aid bis decree, passed by the government. At the end of the meeting called by the government in compliance with the commitments undertaken to carry out a preventive check with the social partners (obviously before the crisis the hypothesis was that of a more substantial intervention), the reactions of the union leaders had been encouraging.
Let's remember them. “The meeting produced some initial responses that go in the direction of some of our requests. Now we should see concretely the contents of the decree that the government has said will be ready by next week ”. Thus, the CGIL leader, Maurizio Landini. '' We consider it important – underlined the secretary – the fact that the government is committed to disburse the 200 euros in July also to those precarious and seasonal workers who had been excluded: this was our first request and it was an important point ". It was then recalled "an intervention that increases the deductible part, that is, which makes workers pay less social contributions, thus increasing the net payroll, with a provision that would go from July to December therefore not a one-off but a structural intervention", he still reported Landini. "It is clear – he added in conclusion – that it will be necessary to evaluate the extent of this provision but it is certainly one of the things we asked for".
Luigi Sbarra of the CISL made similar considerations, perhaps expanding the scope of the interventions enunciated. “We appreciated the meeting with the government and Prime Minister Draghi who, despite the crisis, maintained the commitment he made with the trade unions on 12 July last. The government has communicated to us the willingness to implement in the next few days an 'aid bis' decree which will have a financial endowment of 14.3 billion to extend some measures adopted with the previous decrees and thus support the purchasing power of wages and salaries. pensions ". "We asked the government – continues Sbarra – for support to de-tax second-level bargaining, and a strong structural reduction of the tax wedge as well as evaluating, on the basis of available resources, the possibility of zeroing VAT on goods and purchases. of mass consumption but limited to families in difficulty.
Even the warlike leader of Uil Pierpaolo Bombardieri (nomen omen) spent himself in an "evaluation is positive for the government's commitment to structural interventions on decontribution to increase the net payroll of employees and to anticipate the revaluation of pensions provided for January. That was what we had asked for: a stop to bonuses and structural interventions ”.
What are the reasons that – faced with a text of no less than 42 articles – should justify such heavy and dishonest criticism from the trade unions? Certainly not the amount of the maneuver which has risen to 17 billion in resources from the improvement in revenues also due to inflation, while previously an amount between 12 and 14 billion euros was foreseen. Nor does the distribution of resources deserve particular criticism, which concerns numerous situations of difficulty (it can certainly be said that these are sprinkling measures, except taking responsibility for indicating which sectors should be deprived of the umbrella).
The j'accuse dei scoundrels is mainly aimed at interventions on pensions and wages due, in this case) to the cut of the tax wedge. Let us first consider the rules. The Aid bis decree introduces an additional cut in the contribution wedge for workers with taxable wages of up to 35 thousand euros per year; the measure complements the current 0.8% contribution exemption introduced by the 2022 Budget law.
With the further scissoring, the wedge cut thus stands at 2% for medium-low incomes and will produce its effects retroactively starting from July. According to initial estimates, the 2% reduction in the tax wedge would result in an increase in the net payroll of around 27 euros per month for those with an income of 35,000 euros and around 20 euros per month for those earning around 25,000 euros. EUR. However, these are measures that follow criteria and are not taken whatever. It is certainly not an almsgiving.
Before firing on the Red Cross, it should be considered that this is a doubling of what was provided for in the budget law for the taxation of contributions, without prejudice to the calculation rate. Then comes the case of pensions. Retirees will not have any adjustments in August, but will see the effects of the new intervention from October, when the revaluation ordinarily scheduled for January 2023 will arrive, three months in advance, with relative recognition also on the thirteenth month's salary. , the revaluation of 2% only for pensioners who receive up to € 2,692 gross per month, ie € 34,996 per year.
Basically, this is an advance on the revaluation expected to start from 2023 to be ascertained on the basis of the inflation trend of the first 9 nine months of the year. The Government, by reducing the number of interested parties, compared to the drafts of the provision circulated until yesterday and which would have guaranteed early revaluation for all pensions, obtains savings of about half a billion. Is it little? At least keep in mind that that “ little '' is received in partial advance for three months plus the thirteenth, confirming the alignment, among other things, of the audience of beneficiaries with that of those interested in cutting the contribution wedge and the bonus. 200 euros. It is hardly necessary to remember that in 2022 pension expenditure will increase by 24 billion as a result of the automatic equalization to the cost of living.
With regard to corporate welfare, the ceiling for tax-free fringe benefits is raised, with retroactive effect for the year 2022, from € 258 to € 516, which can also be used to pay water, electricity and gas bills. The Executive has, in fact, decided to double the tax-free threshold of the various benefits, which in many cases are a corollary to company agreements and the renewal of contracts.
Then a question is not out of place: isn't the worker also a consumer? Isn't his family tormented by energy bills? Specifically, starting from 3 August 2022 and until 21 August 2022, the rates of excise duty relating to taxes on production and consumption and related criminal and administrative penalties for the products indicated below are redetermined. Further measures are also envisaged to reduce electricity and gas bills, and the extension of the social bonus is accompanied by a stop to unilateral changes to contracts by suppliers. These measures, of which we have only mentioned the part concerning workers '', are added – recalled the president Mario Draghi at the press conference – to those for over 35 billion euros that we have approved since the beginning of this year to mitigate the effects of price increases for citizens and businesses. The total of today's measures is 15 billion plus about another 2 of additional measures: therefore it is another 17 billion that are in addition to the 35 already approved. We are talking about a large percentage of gross domestic product, more than 2 percentage points. Another important aspect is that we intervene again at unchanged balances, so we do not resort to any deviation ''.
We can do it – continued the premier – because the economic trend is far better than expected. And this is due, as I always say, to the ability of Italians, families, businesses and perhaps a bit of the government's economic policy that has supported the economy without hesitation, but at the same time managed to do so while maintaining the objectives. reduction of the deficit and reduction of the debt / GDP ratio. But the unions don't hear us from this ear. And they continue to talk about a surrounding world that must correspond to their narrative of the facts.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/perche-e-da-cialtroni-definire-unelemosina-il-decreto-aiuti-bis/ on Fri, 05 Aug 2022 14:26:26 +0000.