The search for economic-financial coverage for the new Budget Law also involves small fiscal interventions. Add up many small taxes to finance the most important items of the Executive Maneuver.
The overall impact of this maneuver is quantified by an analysis of Sun 24 Hours. Between gaming, tobacco and financial markets, it seems that the Government will be able to guarantee additional revenue of around 5 billion euros in revenue for the state coffers.
How much and when tobacco increases
We start with one of the most costly vices for the national health system. Given the impossibility of exiting the state of emergency and having to operate under the safeguard clause regime, the Government has decided to bring forward to 2027 the increases on cigarettes which were originally supposed to come into force only from 2028. Smokers are entitled to two price increases this year:
- the first concerns excise duties on tobacco, equal to 25 cents per pack, starting from January 2027;
- a second of another 15 cents per pack from July 2027.
Increasing the cost of tobacco by almost 50 cents over 7 months will guarantee an extra income of around 112 million euros in a year.
Crackdown on gambling
Most of the 5 billion estimated by the study de Il Sole 24 Ore However, they come from gambling. The betting limits on traditional slot machines are raised from 1 to 2 euros, consequently also doubling the possibility of maximum winnings from 100 to 200 euros.
At the same time, the State increases the Single Tax Levy, i.e. the percentage withheld directly by the Treasury from the total sum of bets before the disbursement of winnings. For traditional slot machines in bars and arcades, the tax paid by operators rises from 24% to 25%, while for the more sophisticated online video lotteries the levy rises from 8.6% to 9.6%, guaranteeing the tax authorities over 1.1 billion in the three-year period.
Furthermore, the Government has decided to add a fifth weekly draw for the Lotto and Superenalotto on Wednesday, which will join the four traditional events on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. According to the technical report, this measure alone will bring about 30.5 million into the public coffers in 2027, capable of rising to 43.1 million from 2028.
Double the Tobin Tax
To complete the picture there is the recalculation of the Tobin Tax, the tax on share transfers and derivative financial instruments. The maneuver doubles the rates on the sale of shares relating to companies with a capitalization equal to or greater than 500 million euros.
The levy goes from 0.20% to 0.40% for transactions carried out on regulated markets, while it doubles from 0.40% to 0.80% for negotiations outside official markets. The rates on high-frequency trading also doubled (from 0.04% to 0.08%). From this tweak alone the Ministry of Economy expects revenue of 1.38 billion euros a year, starting from 2027.
From bills to businesses: the impact deferred to 2029
Articles 82 and 83 of the Budget Law establish that the aid against the high energy costs intended for energy-intensive companies and small-medium enterprises will no longer be covered by the state budget starting from 2029. They will in fact be spread under the system charges item of the bills of all Italians, with figures equal to 1.5 billion in 2029 and 1.2 billion in 2030.
Even if the effects on electricity bills will only be seen years later, the inclusion of the rule in the 2027 Budget responds to specific public accounting needs. The Budget Law in fact has a three-year financial planning: deciding today to shift aid to system costs allows the European Union to be shown a structural cut in future public spending, immediately freeing up margins for accounting maneuver and guaranteeing certainty to businesses regarding the maintenance of fully operational support.
