While rich new residents bring tax revenue and create jobs in the city, they’re also contributing to higher costs of living, widening the city’s gap to the rest of Italy. Housing prices are now well more than double elsewhere in the country, while renting a room in Milan is a third more expensive than in Rome. ADVERTISEMENT CONTINUE READING BELOW Skyscrapers on the city skyline in Milan.
A flat-tax on foreign earnings has acted like an accelerator. The number of people in Milan benefiting from the unique perk — which can cut tax bills by hundreds of thousands of euros — has grown steadily and more than doubled in 2021 to a total of over 1,300 people. The pool of beneficiaries has likely continued to grow by several hundred a year, according to Marco Cerrato, a tax lawyer and partner at firm Maisto e Associati, who helps clients relocate to Italy.
While the population gains have been modest, house prices in Milan jumped more than 43% over the last five years, compared to an average of around 9% for Italian metropolitan cities over the same period of time, according to a report by real estate broker Tecnocasa. On top of the iconic Torre Velasca — a brutalist skyscraper built near the city centre in the 1950s — the high-end Sushisamba restaurant will open in 2024. The chain features elaborately designed interiors and instagrammable Japanese and Brazilian dishes. It focuses on elite destinations like London, Doha, Dubai and Las Vegas.
“Milan as a ‘showcase city’ doesn’t benefit students and workers,” said Giacomo Calvi, a student protesting outside Statale University, adding that the activists are demanding a law to cap rents.