A half flop. Only 40% of working mothers who could apply for the mothers’ bonus did so. In six months, according to INPS, 484,730 workers out of 800,000 eligible submitted the application. In detail: 362,726 mothers of two children and 122,004 mothers of three. No boom in requests. Why? In part, it is not as convenient as it seemed, then there is the role played by the tax wedge cut and finally a procedure that took a while to become clear.
The rule, introduced with the Budget Law, introduces a 100% exemption in the paycheck of social security contributions for disability, old age and dependent survivors. It concerns permanent employees with two or three or more children. For three or more minors, the bonus expires on December 31, 2026, while for mothers with two children it stops at the end of 2024. Temporary workers, self-employed workers and domestic workers are excluded. For mothers with three or more children, the relief is valid until the youngest child turns 18. If you have two children, until the youngest child turns 10. The maximum relief in both cases is 3 thousand euros gross per year, about 250 euros per month. But net means 1,700 euros per year, about 142 euros per month. And this maximum amount is reached only if the salary reaches and exceeds 27,500 euros gross. Below this threshold the relief is smaller.
Few requests. 37% of female agricultural workers have applied: 687 out of 1,865. More than 5 out of 10 (56%) among public employees (62,500 out of 112 thousand) and in the private sector 62% (422 thousand out of 680 thousand). In general, four out of ten female workers with the right have not yet applied. Why?
The initial confusion. There is no income limit, but a ceiling on the incentive (3 thousand euros). So many workers above 35 thousand euros thought (and think) that they could not apply, as happens for the tax wedge cut. The second reason is the method: only in February, when the INPS circular of clarification was released, did workers understand that they had to communicate the data and the request to their employer and that it was not all “automatic”. But the number one reason is certainly the ban on cumulating the bonus with the tax wedge cut. Up to 35 thousand euros of annual income, workers (and men) are entitled to the tax wedge cut (6/7%) therefore more convenient and more chosen.
There is one last reason that may have influenced the semi-flop of the mothers’ bonus: the effects on the ISEE. The increase in gross income increases the ISEE and this not only has consequences on access to services and benefits (school meals, nursery bonuses, etc.), but also on the amount of the single allowance. A mother with a family of four (minor children) who obtains the maximum relief of 3 thousand euros per year and a starting ISEE of 20,166.92 will see it increase by 1,127.00 with a decrease of 5.70 euros per month for each child.
This is why four out of ten workers have not asked for the mothers’ bonus. And this is why there could be resources left over from the 450 million allocated. But autumn is approaching and in the next Budget the government will have to decide what to renew and what to sacrifice. Out of an expected expenditure of around 30 billion, the reduction of the wedge and the reform of the Irpef account for almost half. The mothers’ bonus for those with only two children expires on December 31. It is easy to predict that it will be one of the first to be skipped.
