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Napolitano endorses Monti debt package

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in Washington, DC, on October 19, 2011. UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in Washington, DC, on October 19, 2011. UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg | License Photo

MANTOVA, Italy, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Italian President Giorgio Napolitano signed a decree Tuesday endorsing Prime Minister Mario Monti's $40.17 billion austerity package, ANSA said

The spending cuts contain sacrifices for all social groups, Monti told Parliament Monday.

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Monti's budget offers tax breaks on investments and for companies that higher young workers. It increases the sales tax by 2 percent starting in July 2012, creates a tax on luxury items and added a property tax that was considered by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's administration, ANSA reported.

The retirement age will be raised from from 65 to 66 for men and from 60 to 62 for women.

"We are facing a tough job ahead," Napolitano said Tuesday in Mantova, Italy. "I think it is a very difficult time, a moment of transition. And I believe we must make a choice, within the limits of the Constitution, and seize the opportunity to improve the country and trust Monti in his task of forming a government".

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