The car tax is suspended for a year, but in Tuscany the clash immediately ignites. As soon as the government announced the exemption for 2027 for cars up to 80 kW and motorcycles, the strongest reaction once again came from Tuscany and its president Eugenio Giani, who sees the risk that the cost of a tax discount decided in Rome will be transferred to the Regions and healthcare. But not only that.
An old duel also resurfaces. Matteo Renzi, demonstrating skills as a “Kraken” from the depths of the web, dredged up a 2016 post in which Giorgia Meloni accused him of being a «seller of pots» for having announced the abolition of the car tax. The premier took up the provocation: «Today you discovered the difference between announcing and delivering». Renzi did not drop the gauntlet: «You announced a lot, you delivered little», replying with a list of measures enacted by his government. In short, Meloni has her hands full with the lively Tuscan opposition.
According to data released by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, in Tuscany there are 1,611,713 individuals who own at least one car or motorcycle within the 80 kW threshold. Overall, the region has 1,687,037 cars and 591,561 motorcycles that fall within the limit: 2,278,598 vehicles. However, the exemption does not automatically apply to all vehicles: only one vehicle per taxpayer is allowed.
The measure, approved by the Council of Ministers on September 16, concerns payments due between January 1 and December 31, 2027. The government presented the measure as a first step towards a subsequent structural abolition of the car tax. Premier Giorgia Meloni spoke of the cancellation of one of the most hated taxes by Italians, while Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini indicated the goal of expanding the 80 kW threshold in the future. According to the government, the measure should be accompanied by transfers to the Regions to compensate for the revenue reduction.
And it is precisely here that Giani opens the front of contestation. The Tuscan president accuses the government of having «very quickly and superficially settled accounts with the other host», intervening on a regional revenue source to implement a national measure. The point, he argues, is mainly financial: «More than a car tax cut decree, I define it a health cut decree or healthcare cut decree». Giani recalls that in 2025 Tuscany allocated an additional 310 million euros to healthcare and therefore considers particularly serious a decision that, in his view, puts at risk resources intended for services. The issue is the compensations. The decree provides for a transfer to the Regions in exchange for the lower revenue; in the first versions of the measure the allocation indicated is about 2.3 billion euros for 2027.
Giani, however, contests that the amount can guarantee effective coverage of lost revenues. «It is useless to claim that there are adequate compensations: the decree speaks of 2.2 billion in compensation for all of Italy, but today the car tax brings about 7 billion to the Regions, largely destined precisely for healthcare», he states. And regarding Tuscany he quantifies the total loss at about 200 million: 185 million for vehicles affected by the suspension and another 15 million for motorcycles.
In his view, the decree risks turning into a «bureaucratic tangle», because the exemption concerns vehicles that meet certain requirements and, according to his reading, not all mechanisms to verify conditions and manage relations between citizens, administrations, and Regions are yet sufficiently clear. «The exemption applies to authorized vehicles, placing the burden of proof on the citizen without clarifying which offices will have to verify the requirements», Giani argues.
The contestation goes beyond the accounting dimension. Giani questions the very nature of the financial coverage, arguing that the government would have identified PNRR funds intended for investments as a source to compensate for lower current revenues. «Here investment spending is used to cover the current part of the budget», he accuses. And he foresees a possible problem in relations with Europe: «As soon as Europe realizes it, it will not allow the use of PNRR resources to compensate for the lost revenues from regional taxes». And he adds: «A serious problem of unconstitutionality and management of European funds will arise, the result of the anxiety to propose a media-winning idea but lacking substance». For Giani, the fact that the exemption coincides with the year of political elections makes the operation «superficial, populist, and demagogic electoral marketing».
The Tuscan Lega responds point by point. Andrea Crippa, deputy and regional party commissioner, defends the measure: «Thanks to the Lega and Matteo Salvini, the car tax measure will affect 1,611,713 Tuscans. Giani can keep cutting ribbons, because apparently that is what he does well, and let those who concretely think about citizens work». On the same line Elisa Montemagni, Lega deputy: «Certainly we do not take lessons from those who, due to an age-old and obvious healthcare mismanagement, have increased taxes».
The Tuscan PD, instead, sides with Giani on the risk that the benefit for motorists could have a counterpart on services. Simone Bezzini, PD group leader in the Regional Council, and Antonio Mazzeo, vice president of the regional council, speak of a possible «boomerang for citizens».
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