Berlusconi and the proposal to abolish tax on the first car: a twenty-year-long promise

Abolishing the tax on the first car had been an obsession of Silvio Berlusconi since 2008. In fact, the first Cav announcement to Matrix was made almost twenty years ago: ''We have decided to make the commitment to gradually abolish, over the years, the tax on stamp duty for cars, motorbikes and mopeds'', said the then prime minister candidate of the PDL, speaking of a ''deadline'' commitment that will be completed by the middle of the legislature. "We intend to abolish this tax gradually - the promise - until it reaches cars of a certain engine size, also encouraging the change of cars and encouraging the less polluting Euro 4 cars".

Berlusconi won the elections that year, giving birth to his fourth government, but he never managed to completely abolish the tax. On the other hand, he eliminated the ICI on the first house. Measure recalled by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (then minister of the government led by the founder of Forza Italia) in a press conference: "The scheme follows what another centre-right government, of which I was part, used for the home: the tax on the first car owned up to a certain car power is abolished, trying to concentrate on those who need it most".

In 2017, during a party event, Berlusconi relaunched the same proposal: "With great determination I have this idea in my head: we must win the next elections" because "whoever believes in it overcomes all obstacles" and "wins". We need to eliminate the car tax on the first car, introduce a flat tax and increase pensions, his recipe.

A year earlier, in 2016, the then prime minister Matteo Renzi did not close the door to the idea of abolishing the car tax by replacing it with an increase in excise duties: "It is not a bad idea, but intelligent and with concrete utility because in this case only those who use, consume, pollute would pay", said the current leader of IV, commenting on a proposal that had just been deposited.