Abstract

The article focuses on recent developments concerning the ISEE - that is the policy tool based on a combination of income and wealth at the household level, which is used in Italy as a means test for social assistance benefits and services. In 2013, the Italian Government introduced a major reform of the ISEE, in order to improve both the degree of selectivity and equity in means testing. However, in 2015 and 2016 several court rulings held that specific parts of the new ISEE did not comply with previous legislation still in force. According to these rulings cash benefits received by disabled and dependent elderly people should not be taken into consideration when calculating the ISEE. While this reopened a political debate on the 2013 law which is still under way, the national government had to introduce temporary modifications to comply with the court rulings; the latter, however, undermine the selectivity and the equity of this indicator once more.