With a tax wedge that as a percentage of the cost of labor is 47,7 per cent, Italy - after Belgium (53,7 per cent) and Germany (49,6 per cent) - is the country where the burden of taxes and contributions on the gross salary of employees is the highest among the OECD nations.
If we decompose the total weight of the wedge into the shares of the entrepreneurs and the employees, it emerges that the social contributions "paid" by the company owners amount to 24 per cent of the cost of labor (fourth place in the ranking after France, Czech Republic and Estonia), while taxes and contributions paid by employees account for 23,7 per cent (14 position at OECD level).
“Although in recent years it has been decreasing - says Secretary Renato Mason - the size of the tax wedge in Italy remains a major obstacle to growth, the development of investments and the expansion of employment. For these reasons it is necessary to reduce taxes on labor, starting with the component attributable to employees. With heavier payslips, in fact, the probability that the positive effects of this measure will restart internal consumption is very high ".
Given that the financial resources available to the Government are very limited, the CGIA has taken a very clear position also on the subject of these hours: that is, the introduction by the 2020 of the flat tax for family incomes below the gross euro 50.000.
“Any reduction in the level of taxation - reports the coordinator of the Studies Office Paolo Zabeo - can only be greeted positively. However, given that the coverage is limited, we would not want the flat tax to be partly financed through a selective VAT increase. I remember that the possible introduction of the flat tax would have no positive effect for those who do not receive any income, such as the unemployed or inactive, and not even for a good part of the 10 million Italian taxpayers who are in the so-called no tax area . I am referring to many retirees at minimum and as many precarious workers who do not pay any income tax. Conversely, the increase in VAT would weigh on everyone, even on those who would not benefit from any advantage from the introduction of the flat tax, penalizing, above all, the weakest social groups ".