During the examination of the Budget Act for 2018-2020 and Decree Law 148/2017, Parliament introduced numerous amendments to the initial version of the budget measures presented by the Government. The Focus (in Italian) examines the final version of the 2018 budget package approved at the end of December, whose definitive version does not substantially modify the impact on net borrowing but does increase the amount of uses and sources of funds, as well as net revenue and expenditure, especially on the current side.
In addition to the redetermination of the effects of measures already present in the initial version of the budget, new measures were introduced, most of which characterised by a limited financial impact and their sectoral nature. More specifically, the main changes regard the introduction of measures for public employment (notably the provisions concerning hiring in schools), public investment (including an extraordinary maintenance programme for the road networks of the provinces and metropolitan areas), pensions (an exception to the adjustment of the retirement age to life expectancy for certain “demanding jobs”) and in the healthcare segment (establishment of a fund to reduce the so-called “super co-payment” or for alternative measures identified by the regions to replace it). New revenue measures include an increase in the personal income tax credit for dependent children (up to age 24).
