Government abolishes bollo auto for vehicles up to 80kW from 2027 amid criticism from opposition.The Italian government on Wednesday abolished road tax (bollo auto) for the vast majority of cars and all motorbikes and mopeds, in a surprise announcement that will take effect in 2027, as Italy heads towards a general election due next September.  The measure was tucked into a decree on fuel excise duties and was not among the changes expected from Wednesday's cabinet meeting, but it was the abolition of the bollo auto that dominated the subsequent press conference.   Premier Giorgia Meloni, flanked by deputy premiers Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini and economy minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, said the government had "abolished one of the taxes Italians hate most." Which vehicles are affected The exemption covers cars with a power output of up to 80 kW - the small and medium-sized models used by most families for daily commuting - together with all motorcycles and mopeds. According to Palazzo Chigi, this amounts to more than 70 per cent of cars currently on Italian roads, or over 13.2 million vehicles, plus around 1.1 million motorbikes, bringing the total to roughly 14.5 million vehicles.   Each owner is entitled to the exemption for only one vehicle. Meloni said the mechanism mirrors a scheme used by a previous centre-right government for property tax, under which the benefit also applies to someone who owns both a car and a motorbike, provided only one vehicle per person qualifies.   The government said it would not leave Italy's regions - which currently collect the bollo auto revenue - out of pocket, pledging to transfer funds to cover the shortfall. Will it be extended? Government sources said the exemption, introduced through a decree on urgency grounds, is intended to become a permanent, structural measure once the government draws up its budget law later this year.   Salvini, in his capacity as transport minister, said he hoped the move was "the start of a process" and pointed to the budget as a further opportunity to broaden it, arguing the current bollo auto system is complicated to collect and prone to evasion.   Giorgetti, seen as the more cautious voice in the negotiations, acknowledged the measure would "inevitably" become structural but noted its limits: owners of electric cars, who pay no fuel excise duties, will see no benefit from the exemption. Accusations of electioneering Meloni denied the move was an electoral gambit tied to the 2027 vote, insisting it was a structural measure rather than a one-off giveaway.   She said her government - already the longest-serving in Italian history - intended to serve its full five-year term through to next September and had no wish for an early election.   Tajani claimed the abolition as a long-standing Forza Italia policy, rejecting comparisons with electioneering and likening it instead to Silvio Berlusconi's abolition of the Imu property tax.   Salvini welcomed the practical simplification the move would bring to a tax he said was costly and difficult to collect. Political reaction from opposition Tuscany's centre-left Partito Democratico (PD) governor, Eugenio Giani, accused Meloni of "electoral demagoguery" reaching "a reckless level of poor governance" not seen "in the 80-year history of the Republic," and said the government's reimbursement plan fell far short of what regions would lose.   He said Tuscany alone stood to lose around €350 million in revenue against a promised reimbursement of just over €100 million, calling the compensation claim "false".   Photo credit: Fab4Photo / Shutterstock.com