Citizenship income as we know it is doomed to die. The Ministry of Labor, as anticipated by Corriere della Sera, is studying a project to define a subsidy instrument for the poorest groups that could replace the basic income. And the name would also come: Mia, an acronym that means Active Inclusion Measure, which could come into force after the 7-month extension established for income beneficiaries with the Budget Law of 2023. Beneficiaries would be divided into two categories: by on the one hand, poor families without employable people where there is at least one minor or an elderly person over 60 or a person with a disability and on the other hand, families with employable people where there is at least one subject between 18 and the 60 years. In Italy, employable people benefiting from the basic income are estimated at 300,000 single-family families and 100,000 multi-member families. These will be able to continue to benefit from the anti-poverty measure for a maximum period of 7 months in 2023 and, in any case, until 31 December. Once the deadlines have expired, they will be able to apply for the Mia which, however, would have a lower value and duration compared to the basic income, but also in view of the active inclusion measure that will benefit families without employable people.
An unemployed bachelor who today earns around 500 euros of basic income with Mia would receive more or less the same amount. What could be cut is the additional, up to 280 euros, currently foreseen in the case of rent. However, the biggest squeeze would fall on employables both in terms of the basic subsidy, reduced to 375 euros, and in terms of duration given that, unlike the non-employables, it would go from 18 months to one year. To complete the tightening, the proposal made a few months ago by the undersecretary of Labor, Claudio Durigon, to annul the possibility of repeated renewal of the request for a subsidy, as is the case with rent, could be adopted. For unemployed families, starting from the second application, the maximum duration of the Mia will be reduced to 12 months. At least a month must pass between one order and another. While for households with employable persons, the Mia will expire for a maximum of one year, the first time, and after six months for the second, while a possible third subsidy application can only be submitted after an interval of one and a half years. A path designed to ensure that the greatest possible number of wage earners are encouraged to look for a job.
The income received that gives the right to the social inclusion measure also drops, from the current 9,360 euros to 7,200 euros. On the other hand, what will improve in relation to the basic income would be the so-called “equivalence scale”, that is, the tool that increases the value of the subsidy based on the number of family members; a way to help large families. A correction also concerns the number of years of residence in Italy, which should be increased from 10 to 5 years, so as not to incur an infringement procedure by the European Commission, which considers the requirement of 10 years of residence to be discriminatory. With these corrections, the government aims to save up to 3 billion a year from the current almost 8 billion. However, nothing is yet certain and the Ministry of Labour, in a note, specifies that it is “working to bring the measure to the Council of Ministers for consideration. This is an issue that requires in-depth technical confrontation with other ministries, the Regions, the Municipalities and the competent bodies and that does not, to date, allow considering a first draft of the regulatory intervention as a valid reference text for the reform » .
Source: IL Tempo
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
