The Italian government has dropped plans to introduce a tax on high earners, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office has said.

意大利总理贝卢斯科尼办公室宣称，政府已放弃对高收入者征税的计划。

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The austerity measures are reported to have caused tensions within Mr Berlusconi's coalition government
The "solidarity² tax" on those earning more than 90,000 euros (£79,000) was one of several new measures announced earlier this month as the government aims to balance Italy's budget by 2013.

The announcement came after senior ministers met Mr Berlusconi on Monday.

The government said it would instead step up measures to fight tax evasion³（漏税） .

In a statement issued after several hours of talks, the prime minister's offfice said it would also exclude years spent at university and military service from retirement⁴ age calculations, delaying retirement for some people.

But the statement made no mention of any increase in VAT⁵, which had been widely mooted⁶（提出供讨论） in the media.

Although the EU had welcomed Italy's proposed new austerity measures, the country's largest union, the CGIL, has criticised the plan and threatened strike action.

The plan is also reported to have caused tensions within the centre-right coalition government.