The draft budget for 2024 provides for the exclusion of government bonds from the ISEE task, the parameter for accessing support and aid. According to a first reading of the text, all Treasury bonds, both short and long term, already purchased or to be purchased in the future, would be removed from the calculation. Let’s see better.
It is a short paragraph within the maneuver: theart. 39 it is entitled “Exclusion of government bonds from the calculation of the ISEE”, as stated in the document draft text that is circulating at the moment. Sparse text, which refers to previous laws such as the consolidated finance text of 2003, but from which the will of the Government appears clear. It wants to entice small savers to buy Italian government bonds: all the money used for this purpose will be deducted from the calculation of the ISEE, “the indicator of the equivalent economic situation”, in short the parameter used for access to bonuses and social benefits. Therefore, by going below certain thresholds, you may have some advantages; for example, aid on the bill or new subsidies that replace the citizen’s income are given only under certain ISEE thresholds.
The government bonds involved
At a first reading of the draft that is circulating, it seems that the rule is included all government bondsof any maturity, short, medium and long term, therefore both BOTs and BTPs, he explains to Sky TG24 Antonio Tomassini, lawyer from the DLA Piper firm. Furthermore, it seems to apply both to securities already purchased and kept in the drawer and to those that will be purchased in the future, specifies the expert.
More public debt in the hands of Italian families
After the success of BTP Value (35 billion raised in two issues) Palazzo Chigi wants a country that is increasingly less dependent on foreign investors, in particular banks and large foreign funds, and ultimately less exposed to possible storms on international markets. The families of the Bel Paese hold just over a tenth of the national debt (12%), a figure that has risen in recent times but is very far from the end of the 90s, when we were at a third (33%). After all, Italians have around 1,270 billion in their current accounts, so there is room to move some of that money.
Buy BTPs or keep the money in the bank? A comparison
Leaving the money in the bank gives you the opportunity to use it immediately if needed, while mobilizing money invested in BTPs is not so immediate. But it yields much less than investing them in government bonds.
True, several institutions now offer accounts that give interests ever closer to the ten-year BTPs, reaching almost 5%; some reach almost 4%, confirms a recent report by Facile.it; but in most cases, leaving the money in the bank account yields little or nothing.
As for taxes, current accounts are more expensive. In fact, BTPs enjoy the preferential taxation at 12.5% on the coupons collected, the ordinary one at 26% for current accounts.
Practical example: if I collect a thousand euros from the BTP coupons I will have 875 left, if I take a thousand euros from the current account rate I will have 740 left, from which the stamp duty money must be deducted, which varies depending on the amount of money in stock, but in fact it brings us down to around 700 euros.
Pros and cons, the doubts of the experts
“The ISEE is used precisely to quantify a person’s wealth – he explains Andrea Monticinieconomist at the Catholic University of Milan -, and the government bonds held are a full part of that wealth: therefore exclusion from the count could undermine equity of the ISEE. Let’s think of a family that has invested a lot of savings in BTPs and another with the same income that has instead made different choices” continues the professor, according to whom two problems could arise: firstly, the rule could conflict with European law, because it favors Italian securities and does not also apply to French or German securities or those of other EU members. Secondly, it could push Italian families to expose themselves more to the risks inherent in the performance of the financial markets. In short, small savers would “take at home” a possible drop in prices and therefore in the values of government bonds, seeing their savings lose value.
Source-tg24.sky.it