Govt planning significant income-tax cut - Gualtieri

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 21 - Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri said Wednesday that the government intends to deliver a cut in income-tax IRPEF "of a significant size".
    The minister told Radio 24 that around eight billion euros would be devoted to bringing down IRPEF as of 2022 as part of a reform of the tax system He also said that Italy may get more initially from Next Generation EU, the 750-billion-euro fund to help States recover from the economic earthquake caused by COVID-19, than had previously been though.
    "It seems from dialogue with the Commission that the quota of the Next Generation EU that falls within the React EU (cohesion policy) could be much higher than forecast for the first year," he said.
    Gualtieri also commented on the row within the government about whether to apply for around 37 billion euros in low-interest funding from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to invest in the health system.
    His centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and the centrist Italia Viva (IV) party are in favour but the 5-Star Movement (M5S) is against out of fear the money could come with strings attached further down the line.
    Premier Giuseppe Conte has expressed scepticism about the ESM option, irking the PD and IV.
    "I am in favour, in part because I negotiated (the ESM option for health spending) and I know there is no type of conditionality," he said.
    "But the benefit from the use of the ESM for Italy is not an additional 37 billion euros, its the saving of 300 million euros a year in interest payments.
    "Obviously, 300 million euros a year is a significant figure, so I'm in favour". (ANSA).