A few days ago, Giorgia Meloni from the Atreyu stage chanted, “Citizen’s income? I will cancel it a thousand more times.” The removal of aid, which was used by more than 1 million families until last July, has always been one of the right-wing government’s biggest warhorses. And the government stands to make a decent amount of money from its removal.
1 billion euros less to fight poverty
The state saved approximately 200 million euros from the cut in citizens’ income in November 2023 compared to the same month in 2022. But this is only the beginning: further savings should be expected from January 2024, when the measure will be lifted for everyone. In fact, there are currently 700,000 families still considered “unemployed” and still receiving benefits. They will have to apply en masse for ADI, an acronym that stands for “Participation Allowance”. Another 300,000 people who lost their citizenship income were asked to take part in the new job training support agreement for a few months, which entitles them to a monthly contribution of 350 euros from INPS.
But the evidence is that, in fact, by eliminating the citizen’s income, the government is cutting resources to fight poverty at the very moment when Istat approves the income increase. The total resources used to finance citizenship income reached 8 billion euros in 2022. Those for the accession allowance and the working agreement will equal a maximum of 7.076 billion euros for 2024 and 2025. This results in a treasury of at least one billion euros, made possible by new bottlenecks in accessing state subsidies. In general, it is decreasing for everyone. A savings that is neither used to promote active employment policies nor to increase subsidies for categories that can no longer work (e.g. the elderly or the disabled).
A collapse in incomes for the poorest expected from 2024
The savings advertised by corporate estimates are actually achieved by restricting the group of subsidy eligibles and the timing of payments. In order to benefit from the new social participation allowance, there must be a minor, elderly or disabled person in the family. This is also an ideological choice for the Meloni government. When we analyze the latest data published by INPS on the citizenship income paid between 2019 and 2023, we see that more than 350 thousand single people received this income. The difference between the monthly income of a single person and that of a family unit of five people with dependent children was just over 380 euros per month. It’s a distortion that definitely requires action: the government solved this problem by excluding all single people from those who qualify.
But it’s not just him. The new measure also narrows the target audience regarding rent, which is a basic parameter. Previously, the ISEE threshold was set at a family income of 9,360 euros for those with a rental agreement, now rental expenses are not included in the calculation of the allocation of the subsidy. The new threshold is set at 6,000 euros for everyone, a measure that excludes many people from applying.
There are very similar criteria for the new subsidy for employable people, that is, anyone between the ages of 18 and 59 who has no dependent children and is not disabled. To access support for “study and employment purposes” you must have an ISEE of less than €6,000 per year. It can also only be activated for one year and is no longer renewable. An oddity that resembles Linus’ blanket and does not solve the dramatic problem of professional retraining of Italians.
According to a study published by Bankitalia by economists Giovanni Bovini, Emanuela Di Carlo and Antonella Tomasi, it is precisely because of these restrictions that the number of subscribers will tend to decrease from 322 thousand in 2022 to only 133 thousand households in 2027. By ADI, unlike Citizenship Income, it will shrink by 900,000 potential units thanks to new strict parameters. And the same economists warn about how much the abolition of citizenship income would cost the weakest segments of the population.
Overall, the annual benefit available to families with the lowest family income will be 1,300 euros less. It is clear that this decrease will especially affect those who receive state support. Those who will not be able to access the subsidy will risk losing around 4,360 euros from 2024. Overall, approximately one million struggling Italians will see their incomes decrease, according to estimates. The government’s treasury comes from these figures.
New subsidies are not being lifted and many Italians risk being left without a euro in January
But as if that wasn’t enough, the other problem is the delays the government is experiencing in managing the changes. There are 1.6 million people whose participation allowance should be active instead of Rdc as of January 1, 2024. However, due to institutional delays, we had to wait until Monday, December 18th to apply. But overall, there are 1 million families without any income in January, “It requires an income” activists report.
The same association underlines that 70 percent of those who had to activate the agreement for education and work support are actually excluded from all kinds of subsidies. And many inefficiencies are reported: many questions are not available on the platform due to IT errors or unspoken databases. Conclusion? Many of them have not yet seen a euro or any educational project, even after months. As reported by CGIL, only 20% of claims managed by Employment Centers received bank transfers. A disaster has been officially declared. Another one after the mockery about the removal of citizenship income via SMS this summer.
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Source: Today IT

Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.