Short lease terms, divided opinion on payroll tax hike

"We will fight to make sure there is no increase in tax pressure". It's not just pensions and account seizures. Even the flat tax is causing alarm for most.

Article 18, contained in one of the drafts of the upcoming budget, raises the tax rate from 21% to 26%. The flat tax applies to the income of those who rent out property and intermediaries who receive rent, including platforms such as Airbnb.

The economic change, however, will only apply to short-term rentals, meaning properties rented out for less than 30 days, so-called "short-term rentals," which are mainly used for tourist rentals.

The measure aims to reduce the phenomenon of wild rentals, prevalent especially''in historic cities and tourist areas, but it also serves to replenish the treasury.

It was not only the property owners' associations that were outraged, however, but also many majority parliamentarians. And the deputy prime minister, foreign minister and national secretary of the Forza Italia party, Antonio Tajani, raised his voice and stalled yesterday morning.

Later Giorgio Mule, deputy president of the Chamber of Deputies and Forza Italia MP, added: "Forza Italia has historically opposed increased tax pressure and fiscal''oppression' and recalled that 'Silvio Berlusconi taught us that the home is sacred and must always be preserved'. And, like Tajani, he did not rule out intervention at the parliamentary stage "if it contradicts the principles that inspire and guide our political activity".

The "Lega" party is still officially silent on the subject, but besides the promise of a single tax also for commercial rentals, the measure is already present in one of the projects related to the tax reform, but for now they are stopped (and introduced only for 2019 during the "Lega-Cinque Stelle" government), a month ago Matteo Salvini himself in front of the Confedilizia associations said: "Private property is sacred and it is not the task of the State to decide whether to rent for short, medium or long'picking up; besides, it will not bring residents back to cities with a large tourist flow, such as Venice or Florence. "

Short-term rentals, explains Spaziani Testa, "do not necessarily mean tourist rentals, they are also used by workers or sick people." The Hotel Business Association considers the measure a new step toward regulating the "wild west of short-term rentals" that Tourism Minister Daniela Santanche has long promised in a bill that, however, has yet to move in Parliament.