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Italy to cut income tax for lower earners

Italy will drop its income tax bands from five to four and reduce tax rates for those on lower incomes under an agreement reached by key figures in the Italian government on Thursday.

Published: 26 November 2021 12:57 CET
Italy's finance minister Daniele Franco has reached an agreement with the government’s majority parties to cut income tax for lower earners.
Italy's finance minister Daniele Franco has reached an agreement with the government’s majority parties to cut income tax for lower earners. Andreas SOLARO / AFP

Going forward, personal earnings of between 28,000 and 50,000 euros will be taxed at 35 percent in Italy, down from the current rate of 38 percent.

Taxes on earnings between 15,000 and 28,0000 euros will be reduced from 27 percent to 25 percent.

The 41 percent tax band for earnings between 55,000 and 75,000 euros will be abolished altogether, with all income over 50,000 euros now set to be taxed at the top rate of 43 percent.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How Italy’s proposed new budget could affect you

Yearly incomes below 15,000 euros will continue to be taxed at 23 percent.

The agreement was reached as the result of negotiations between Italy’s Economy Minister Daniele Franco and representatives of the majority parties in the Italian government over how to distribute the 8 billion euro tax cut provided for in Italy’s 2022 Budget Law.

Under the terms of the agreement, approximately 7 billion euros will go towards overhauling Italy’s personal income tax, or ‘IRPEF’, though these reforms.

READ ALSO: The rules and deadlines for filing Italian taxes in 2021

The remaining one billion will be used to eliminate the regional production ‘IRAP’ tax on sole proprietors and the self-employed.

The so-called ‘Bonus Renzi’, introduced by former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi in 2014, which initially awarded an 80 euro and later a 100 euro tax bonus to lower earners, will be scrapped altogether.

Tax experts estimate that the reforms are likely to translate to average yearly savings of 100 euros for those on a 20,000 euro annual salary; 300 euros for those earning 30,000 euros per year, and around 600 for those receiving 40,000 euros per year, according to the Italian news daily Corriere della Sera.

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TAXES

Beskæftigelsesfradraget: What is Denmark’s employment allowance?

Denmark's government may soon announce changes to its tax reform plans, which will give all wage earners a bigger employment allowance. What is this and how will it affect foreigners' earnings?

Published: 30 October 2023 15:21 CET
Beskæftigelsesfradraget: What is Denmark's employment allowance?

What is the employment allowance? 

The Beskæftigelsesfradraget (from beskæftigelse, meaning employment, and fradrag, meaning rebate) was brought in by the centre-right Liberal Party back in 2004, the idea being that it would incentivise people to get off welfare and into a job.

Everyone whose employer pays Denmark’s 8 percent AM-bidrag, or arbejdsmarkedsbidrag, automatically receives beskæftigelsesfradraget. Unlike with some of Denmark’s tax rebates, there is no need to apply. The Danish Tax Agency simply exempts the first portion of your earnings from income taxes. 

In 2022, beskæftigelsesfradraget was set at 10.65 percent of income with a maximum rebate of 44,800 kroner. 

How did the government agree to change the employment allowance in its coalition deal? 

In Responsibility for Denmark, the coalition agreement between the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Moderate Party, the new government said it would set aside 5 billion kroner for tax reforms.

Of this, 4 billion kroner was earmarked for increasing the employment allowance, with a further 0.3 billion going towards increasing an additional employment allowance for single parents.

According to the public broadcaster DR, the expectation was that this would increase the standard employment  allowance to 12.75 percent up to a maximum rebate of 53,600 kroner. 

How might this be further increased, according to Børsen? 

According to a report in the Børsen newspaper, the government now plans to set aside a further 1.75 billion kroner for tax reforms, of which nearly half — about 800 million kroner — will go towards a further increase to the employment allowance. 

The Danish Chamber of Commerce earlier this month released an analysis in which it argued that by raising removing all limits on the rebate for single parents and raising the maximum rebate for everone else by 20,300 kroner, the government could increase the labour supply by 4,850 people, more than double the 1,500 envisaged in the government agreement. 

According to the Børsen, the government estimates that its new extended allowance will increase the labour supply by 5,150 people.  

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