Italy | The Government approves a 40% tax on the profits of banks

“It is a consistent measure and it will feed tax cuts and support mortgages” because “we are not talking about a few handfuls of millions, but billions,” said the Vice President and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, on Monday.

The Italian Government chaired by the far-right Giorgia Meloni has approved the creation of a 40% tax on the extraordinary profits of banks, limited to the years 2022 and 2023 and which will not exceed 25% of net worth, and whose collection will be used fully to “support mortgage purchases and tax cuts.”

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The new rate has been included by surprise in the last decree approved by the Executive of Giorgia Meloni before the summer holidays, since it did not appear in the draft published by the Italian media in the days prior to its approval.

According to the rule, it will be activated if the interest margin registered in 2022 “exceeds the value of the 2021 financial year by at least 3%”, a percentage rises to 6% if 2023 is compared with the previous year.

The extraordinary tax instituted for 2023 has a rate of 40%, but the amount, in any case, may not exceed a proportion equal to 25% of the value of the net assets at the end of the year preceding the one in progress on January 1 of 2023.

In addition, it is not deductible for income tax and regional tax on economic activities.

“This is a norm of social equality,” said the Vice President and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, at the end of the Council of Ministers on the measure with which the Government hopes to raise more than 2,000 million euros to “feed” the next General Budgets, according to some media.

The minister said that “all the collection will be allocated to two items: aid for first home mortgages and tax reductions”, explaining that “the rise in ECB rates has caused an increase in the cost of money for households and companies There hasn’t been a rise as diligent, fast and significant for consumers.”

“So in this gap there will be a 40% tax on the multimillion-dollar extra profits of the banks. We are not going to go into the figures, but it is enough to look at the profits of the first half of the banks for 2023 to realize that we are not speaking of a few handfuls of millions, but a few billion can be assumed,” he added.

Other measures were approved in the decree, such as the increase in taxi licenses, the brake on the increase in the cost of flights and the waiver of the salary cap of 240,000 euros for the company in charge of building the Messina bridge, which will link the Italian peninsula with the island of Sicily.

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