The data emerged from the study of the Council and the National Foundation of Accountants “Analysis of the tax burden in Italy, Europe and the world. Structure and evolution of the main social policy indicators " The real tax burden is 5,8% higher than the official one (42,4%). Households have not yet recovered from the 2012-2013 fiscal shock. Italy ranks 128th in the world for the efficiency of the tax system
After five years of continuous decline in the tax burden in Italy, in 2019 a has occurred sharp increase of 0,7 points which brought its overall level back four years. But net of the submerged and illegal economy, Equal to 12% of GDP, or 215 billion euros, reaches the 48,2% (+ 5,8% compared to the official one), the highest position between European countries. The data emerge from the study of the Council and the National Foundation of Accountants “Analysis of the tax burden in Italy, Europe and the world. Structure and evolution of the main social policy indicators ".
After the last heavy shock of 2012-2013 (+ 2,1%), in the five years 2014-2018 a has occurred significant return (-1,7%), which, however, mainly concerned companies, since the tax burden on families, whose total revenue is equal to 323 billion euros out of a total of 758,6 billion, has not benefited from this reduction and is, indeed, increased.
The tax burden on households, calculated using a revision of Istat data by the National Foundation of Accountants, it turned out in 2019 equal to 18,0%, growing by 0,3 points compared to 2018. After the shock of 2012-2013, which saw the Italian tax burden rise by 2,1 percentage points, the tax burden on households further increased and then fell back slightly in the last two years and therefore remained unchanged, while in the same period the overall tax burden fell by one percentage point.
Despite the interventions on the tax wedge in recent years, the OECD indicator that measures the wedge places Italy at the top of Europe: third place for single employee with 48% e first place for married employee with two children with 39,2%.
From the analysis of tax revenue per single tax, it is also clear that the first 10 taxes (out of 88 total items inferable from the Istat tables) cover 85% of the total. The same figure was 82,3% in 1995. There is one tendency to concentration the tax levy on principal taxes. For example, thePersonal income tax, which in 2019 is the first tax with 176,8 billion euros in revenue, covers 34,2% of the total (+ 2% on 1995), theVAT, which is the second tax by revenue with 111,8 billion euros, covers 21,6% of the total (+ 1,3% on 1995). Together, Irpef and VAT cover 55,9% of the total tax revenue (+ 3,3% on 1995).
In international comparison, the tax burden shows itself unbalanced on the side of work with respect to consumption. In fact, in the last year with data available for comparison, 2018, Italy ranks at 7th place in the first case and 21st place in the second. In particular, for VAT revenue in relation to GDP, Italy ranks 26th in the EU27 ranking, while for personal income tax revenue, Italy ranks 5th.
Despite the exceptional reduction of the Total Tax Rate between 2006 and 2020, the indicator of the tax burden on corporate profits calculated by the World Bank for Italy almost 60% resulting among the highest in Europe.
Particularly negative are the efficiency indices of the tax system measured by the World Bank: in the special ranking of Paying taxes 2020, Italy drops to 128th place burdened by the long estimated times for tax compliance and for the subsequent stages of management of refunds and tax audits.
