Tensions within Italy's centre-right government are delaying Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's plans to cut taxes by 6 billion euros as the four ruling parties fail to agree how the cuts should be shared out.
The tax cutting package, a key part of Berlusconi's victorious election platform in 2001, has been repeatedly promised and put off since early summer.
A defeat for the centre-right in by-elections last weekend heightened tensions and the flames were fanned this week by Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini, who urged Berlusconi to shake up his team and present a new, more realistic programme.
On taxes Fini, who is leader of the right-wing National Alliance party, told the mainstream daily Corriere della Sera Berlusconi should ditch his plans to cut the top income tax band.
Instead, he should either focus the cuts on lower income brackets or else make companies the main beneficiaries by slashing corporate tax, Fini said.
The Union of Democrats of the Centre is close to Fini's position, while the federalist Northern League backs Berlusconi's plans but also wants to increase financial incentives for couples having children.