Salvini against the Super Tax: “We will gradually abolish it”. The hypotheses on the table

VERONA – The super tax will disappear, but gradually. This was explained by the Minister of Transport Matteo Salvini who opened the Automotive Dealer Day event in Verona. It is an extra tax on cars with power exceeding 185 kW (252 hp) that “is worth about 200 million euros a year,” said Salvini. “The debate is not about finding 200 million to cover: we can cover them immediately with a ministerial decree. If we want to do it in two or three steps, let’s do it step by step so as to avoid criticism that will come anyway.” For the minister, the choice will provoke criticism from those who will attack the government that “rewards those who buy a luxury car, our aim instead is to redistribute wealth by producing and selling cars with even higher engine capacity.”

Before speaking in Verona, Salvini spoke with the Undersecretary of the Economy, Federico Freni, who is already "working" on the matter: "We expect to close before the summer. The goal would be to eliminate the super tax, but we can do it gradually" with changes that will concern "the application bands: we will raise the threshold of horses above which it applies", he added, recalling that the abolition of the super tax is already part of the delegation to the government for the fiscal reform.

Salvini also returned to the Green Deal and the ban on combustion-engined cars in 2035. "The choices imposed by the European Union are putting a production sector with its entire supply chain in difficulty, but CO2 has increased: in 2023, 37.4 billion tons were emitted worldwide, the highest ever since records began," the minister pointed out. "The whole of Europe contributes 7% of global CO2, China alone 31%. It is clear that if you set limits on your production, which is worth 7%, and leave 31% free to burn coal as if there were no tomorrow to produce the battery with which I enter the ZTL in Milan or Rome, you have committed the perfect crime." As for electric, it must be "the consumer who decides: the electric car was a failed social experiment. The 2035 target is crazy, wrong and unfeasible. All-electric is the economic, commercial, industrial and environmental death of our continent. My appeal is to take advantage of the next few months to then calmly arrive at 2027 and a 2035 where the market decides, not a Soviet-style imposition".