Roberto Occhiuto claims the proposal, Pasquale Tridico accuses Giorgia Meloni of inconsistency. The abolition of car tax announced by the government sparks political confrontation. The president of the Calabria Region and deputy secretary of Forza Italia speaks of “one less tax for millions of Italians”. The head of the 5 Star Movement’s delegation to the European Parliament recalls the criticism he received when he put forward a proposal on the candidate stamp for the presidency of Calabria and defines the government’s intervention as “an electoral move”.
Occhiuto: «A measure for families, I proposed it in June»
«Last June 13, in an interview with Messaggero, I was the first to launch the idea of a flag measure, easily recognizable by citizens and in line with what President Silvio Berlusconi had done in previous decades with the abolition of some taxes, such as those on houses and inheritance», says Occhiuto.
The governor reconstructs the path of the proposal: «I had proposed the abolition of car tax at a national level, and after a few weeks my party, Forza Italia, had also made this suggestion its own. Today that proposal becomes a concrete measure of the government led by Giorgia Meloni.”
According to what Occhiuto reports, the Council of Ministers has decided to abolish the tax for small and medium-powered cars, used largely by families for daily travel, extending the exemption to motorcycles, with only one concession for each citizen. «A real asset that is cancelled, one less tax for millions of Italians», he comments.
The president of Calabria says he is certain that the intervention will be appreciated and will help strengthen consensus with the executive. «I am happy that the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has decided to bring forward a simple, clear and easily communicable measure: the abolition of car tax represents an important signal of attention towards families and confirms the desire to continue on the road to reducing taxes».
Tridico: «When I proposed it, Meloni called me Cetto La Quale»
Tridico’s reaction was of the opposite sign, recalling the comparison during his candidacy for the leadership of the Calabria Region. «In politics everything and its opposite is valid. When I had proposed, as a candidate for president of the Calabria Region, the abolition of the tax for medium-sized cars, Giorgia Meloni had denigrated me by calling me Cetto La Quale”, he states in a note.
Hence the question addressed to the Prime Minister: “I therefore wonder whether the Prime Minister continues to think the same way and whether she coherently defines her proposal as a move from Cetto La Quale”.
The M5S representative also disputes the purpose and duration of the intervention. «There is, however, a huge difference between our proposal and yours. We had conceived it to support the middle class with a long-term perspective, but she is doing it at the end of the legislature, for just one year, and as an electoral move to try to cover up all the disasters and failures of four years of government.”
Tridico concludes by broadening his criticism of the executive’s action: “Italians are not stupid and will ask you to account for the record tax pressure, skyrocketing energy and petrol prices, sieve hospitals, dilapidated schools, missing nursery schools and snail-like and always late transport.”