The government wants banks to contribute around 5 billion euros toward the 2027 budget, a plan Matteo Salvini, deputy prime minister and transport minister, has championed from the start. Il Fatto Quotidiano reports that the budget needs 23.5 billion euros to be covered, and that the levy is one of several options still under discussion. Antonio Patuelli, president of the Italian banking association Abi, protested on Friday, 16 October, at a convention of the Consorzio servizi bancari, arguing that banks were being unfairly targeted.
“We operate in a constitutional state governed by law, and the Constitution does not say that some should be 'mazzolati'.”
Salvini replied on 17 October, calling Patuelli's words surprising and saying the figures showed the opposite. He cited bank profits of 25.5 billion euros in 2022, 40.6 billion in 2023, 46.5 billion in 2024 and 47.5 billion in 2025, adding that more than 50 billion euros were forecast for this year. He also said that between 2022 and 2025 banks closed 2,510 branches and cut 12,900 jobs, and that their effective tax rate in 2025 was 19.2%. According to Salvini, the profits came mainly from interest and commissions paid by citizens, families and businesses, and he concluded that the request was sensible.
“Asking for a contribution of at least 5 billion euros from one of Italy's richest and most protected sectors will be an intervention of absolute common sense.”
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Gianfranco Torriero, Abi's deputy general manager, said during the association's monthly call that the levy had not been agreed with the sector.
“The intervention in the budget is absolutely not agreed, unlike what happened over the last two years.”
Torriero said banks had already raised revenue for the state through the 2025 budget law, with 4.5 billion euros, and through the 2026 budget law, with more than 10.2 billion euros. Il Fatto Quotidiano reports that just over 10 of the 23.5 billion euros needed do not depend on the European safeguard clause for energy and defence, so many of the measures under consideration are likely alternatives to one another. Those options include a flat tax up to 100,000 euros favoured by the League, an Irpef income tax cut for incomes above 50,000 euros favoured by Forza Italia and Fratelli d'Italia, and smaller measures such as public transport discounts for students. Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti described the intervention as sustainable.
The majority is expected to settle its choices in the week of 19 October. Torriero stressed that agreements must be respected, recalling that in recent years institutions and the association had reached deals on 4.5 billion euros and more than 10 billion euros over three years. Avs argued that the government's earlier withdrawals from the banking system were only tax advances and loans. The levy's final size and form remain open until the majority decides.
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Transport minister Matteo Salvini backed a contribution of around 5 billion euros from banks to the 2027 budget. Abi president Antonio Patuelli objected, and Abi says the measure was never agreed with the sector.
AI text based on reports by Il Fatto Quotidiano, Tgcom24, La Repubblica.it and other publishers. Published .