Meloni: "It will never see the light of day with the right." Schlein: "With you, record tax pressures."

A message addressed to the center-left and unions: "Wealth taxes cyclically reappear in the left's proposals. It's reassuring to know that, with the right in government, they will never see the light of day," Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on social media, accompanying the message with a close-up photo of herself. Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein responded: "With Giorgia Meloni in government, the tax burden has risen to 42.8%, the highest in the last ten years. This is what the government's data says, not the Democratic Party's. The Meloni government has raised taxes for everyone. And as if that weren't enough, in the next budget, it will intervene on personal income tax and once again help the richest instead of the impoverished middle class. ISTAT says so, that 85% of the resources will go to the richest families. How can you wake up this morning and attack the opposition? Your government will be remembered as the one that bled Italian families and businesses and provided aid to the richest," observes the Democratic Party leader.

For days, the issue of a wealth tax has been a hot topic abroad and in Italy as well. The Italian center-left is looking to the French and American models to consider a similar measure. In the AVS, the Italian Left has always been the leading proponent of a tax on high net worth. Schlein has said yes, but the proposal must be finalized in Brussels. (We support a Europe-wide tax on people with millions at their disposal, on billionaires.) Giuseppe Conte , president of the Five Star Movement, has put the brakes on: "These highly taxed assets will not provide significant resources to address emergencies."

Maurizio Landini , who proposed a contribution for the wealthiest, is also in favor. The CGIL secretary renewed his criticism of the Meloni government's plan after Senate hearings by the Bank of Italy, the Court of Auditors, the UPB, and ISTAT, which highlighted the ineffectiveness of the measures contained in the bill in supporting incomes and, indeed, the inequalities introduced by the personal income tax cut. The conflict with the CGIL remains ongoing, even after the controversy over the strike and the long weekend . Meloni joked about the choice of Friday , backed by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, urging Landini to change the date.

The reactions

The prime minister's words sparked a backlash from the opposition. "Tax cuts are a recurring theme in right-wing election promises. In Giorgia Meloni's three years in office, the exact opposite has happened," notes PD Economics Director Antonio Misiani . "The tax burden in 2022 was 41.7% of GDP; in 2025, it rose to 42.8%. This is a record high in the last ten years. In practice, this year Italian families and businesses will pay €25 billion more than they would have if the tax burden had remained at its 2022 level. These are the figures. There's no point in talking," writes Misiani, republishing Meloni's post on the wealth tax. The same post was also reiterated by P eppe Provenzano , foreign affairs director of the Democratic Party secretariat: "With the right in government, a plan is being implemented that only helps the rich and tax evaders and penalizes the middle class and those in difficulty. The 'woman of the people', reassuring only for friends and powerful people."

For Nicola Fratoianni of AVS, it's "not at all reassuring that with the right-wing government, the number of people living in poverty is increasing, and that—as happened between 2023 and 2024—the number of Italians who forgo healthcare because they can no longer afford it is increasing by 1 million. Nor is it at all reassuring to know that the salaries of the majority of Italians in this country, the only case in Europe, have been essentially stagnant or even declining for thirty years, while the cost of living continues to rise. There's little that can be done here: it would be enough," the leader of Si concluded, speaking on SkyTg24, "for the ministers of the Meloni government to go out and talk to real people. Perhaps they would understand one thing: how can one make a living in these conditions?" And Angelo Bonelli of AVS, co-spokesperson for Europa Verde, added: "The right defends the rich and has abandoned the poor, who are increasingly poorer year after year. Absolute poverty in Italy has reached the scandalous figure of 5.7 million people. And with the Meloni government, the number of people who have forgone healthcare has risen to 1.3 million, going from 4.5 million to 5.8 million. In Italy, there are 62 super-rich people with a combined wealth of €200 billion. Why shouldn't the super-rich contribute to public healthcare and increase salaries and pensions, which are among the lowest in Europe? We are on the side of the poor and the middle class. Meloni is on the side of the super-rich and defends a system that is increasingly socially unjust. After all, she has already said no—along with Trump—to the global minimum tax on large multinationals," Bonelli concluded.

Forza Italia's Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani , however, joined the controversy surrounding the strike called by the CGIL for December 12th, a "political strike that the union, the only one, is organizing, breaking union unity. It seems to me, however, that the CGIL is politically isolated. It doesn't sign contracts. It organizes strikes on Fridays, always. Clearly, something isn't working. It seems to me that it is isolated in the labor market." Therefore, the CGIL is "free to act," Tajani concluded, but "the others sign contracts, with wage increases," he stated, "and the CGIL is always against it. Perhaps Landini has political ambitions, that he wants to be the leader of the left. Legitimate. I'm just making a political analysis."