Key facts
- Italy is abolishing road tax for 14.5 million cars and motorbikes.
- The measure is expected to cost over €2 billion.
- The exemption applies to motorbikes and over 70% of small- and medium-sized cars.
- Citizens are entitled to the exemption for one vehicle each.
- The exemption is set to last for one year, from January 1 to December 31, 2027.
- Italy's public debt is projected to peak at almost 139% of GDP this year.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced on Wednesday that Italy will abolish road tax for 14.5 million cars and motorbikes, a move estimated to cost the state coffers over €2 billion. The decision comes as the government seeks to boost support ahead of national elections next year, with Meloni's conservative coalition trailing the center-left in polls and facing pressure from the new far-right party National Future.
Meloni stated that the government is eliminating a tax "most hated by Italians." The benefit will apply to all motor-bikes and more than 70% of small- and medium-sized cars, with each citizen entitled to the exemption for one vehicle. A draft decree indicated the exemption would be for one year, from January 1 to December 31, 2027, at a cost of €2.36 billion. The source of funding for the initiative was not immediately clear.
Italy's public debt is projected to peak at almost 139% of gross domestic product this year, making it the euro zone's most indebted country. Coalition parties welcomed the measure as part of a tax-cutting agenda, but critics dismissed it as a distraction from rising fuel prices. Rossano Sasso, a senior aide to Vannacci, likened the measure to "treating pneumonia with a throat lozenge."