The 2026 Maneuver will be remembered as that mysterious object which, while swearing not to put its hands in Italians’ pockets, manages to slip at least two fingers into our wallet. With grace, of course. With measure. With that entirely accountant-like prudence that the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti claims as a civil virtue, only to then discover that virtue, when it is too prudent, always ends up hitting the same people.
Let’s get the petrol. Always on the eve of the exodus, to make a quick grab. Not a marginal voice, but the litmus test of the relationship between state and citizens. Every tank is now a self-analysis session: you no longer ask yourself where you are going, but why you are doing it. The maneuver does not officially increase excise duties – a word that is more burning than petrol itself – but “remodulates”, “harmonizes” and “realigns” them. the law provides for a decrease in the rate on petrol of 4.05 cents per liter and a similar increase in that on diesel. The final calculation, however, does not stop at the excise duty: by adding VAT the real impact on price lists will be 5 cents more per liter. In practice, the price remains high and the taxpayer is left alone, with the pump in his hand and the feeling of being the true unconscious fuel of the public budget.
Then there are the microtaxes. The brilliant ones. The creative ones, perhaps developed by the ESM creatives, who have nothing to envy of the Armando Testa agency in this field. Those that don’t make noise, but add up to make money. Two euros on non-EU postal parcels: a figure that seems to have been put there so as not to offend anyone, except the principle of common sense itself. It’s not a tax, it’s a donation. It’s not a tax, it’s a forced tip to the State, a medieval tax. Did you buy online to save money? Perfect. Now you save a little less, but with the consolation of contributing to the common good.
The philosophy is clear: don’t hit hard, hit often, conservatively, that’s it. Not a blow, but a thousand pinches. So no one really protests, because no one feels affected enough to take to the streets. It’s the taxation of addiction: you complain for a moment, then you pay and move on. Like with mosquitoes in summer. After twenty minutes it passes.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will be able to say that there were no alternatives. Maybe it’s true. But one certainty remains: when alternatives are lacking, fiscal imagination never disappoints. And in the end, between more expensive petrol and a package that costs more, the message is very clear. The maneuver will not go down in history, as the Minister of Economy and Finance himself admitted. But on our bank statement, unfortunately, yes.
