According to data from the CGIA Studies Office, our companies pay 105,6 billion euros a year to the tax authorities: in the European Union only German companies pay a higher total amount, 135,6 billion, although it should be remembered that Germany has 22 million more inhabitants than Italy.
But the tax burden on Italian companies is unmatched in the rest of Europe when we measure the percentage incidence of taxes paid by companies on total tax revenue. If in Italy the percentage is 14,9, in Ireland it is 14,8, in Belgium it is 12,9, in the Netherlands it is 12,7, in Spain it is 11,8, in Germany and in Austria it is 11,6. , 11,5. The European Union average is 1 per cent (see Table XNUMX).
“Although our companies are required to have the most onerous fiscal effort in Europe - points out the coordinator of the CGIA Studies Office Paolo Zabeo - the quality of the services received by the State is frighteningly inadequate. I would like to remind you, for example, that the commercial debt of our Public Administration towards its suppliers is 64 billion euros, 34 of which are attributable to late payments. The economic burden of bad bureaucracy on SMEs, on the other hand, is 31 billion and the infrastructural deficit, both material and immaterial, weighs on the production system for at least 40 billion euros ”.
The CGIA study office points out that the percentage of corporate tax paid on the total tax revenue is an indicator that helps to understand the high level of taxation to which companies are subjected. Please note that the Italian taxes considered in this analysis on Eurostat data are: Irap, Ires, Irpef's share of self-employed persons, withholdings on dividends and interest and capital gains.
“In addition to reducing the burden of taxes - declares the Secretary of the CGIA Renato Mason - it is also necessary to decrease the number of tax obligations which, on the other hand, continues to increase and constitutes a big problem for many companies. We must not forget that the most penalized by this situation, as is the case with taxes, are small and very small businesses which, unlike the larger companies, do not have an administrative structure capable of autonomously taking on all these tasks. "
The CGIA study office points out that the data provided by Eurostat does not consider any further forms of withdrawal, for which it is not possible to make a homogeneous comparison with the other countries examined in this comparison; Such as social security contributions, Imu / Tasi, tax on advertising, corporate tax, excise duties, camerals, etc., which are excluded from the analysis. We can therefore say with good approximation that in this process the overall amount of tax burden on Italian companies is undoubtedly underestimated.
It should also be remembered that the data in this international comparison refer to 2015. In 2016 the Renzi government reduced the tax burden on assets: it continued to decrease the Chamber of Commerce law, introduced super depreciation to 40 percent and slightly increased the IRAP deductions for small businesses. Finally, from 2017, it reduced the IRES (corporate income tax) rate from 27,5 to 24 percent and established hyper-amortization at 150 percent.
The confirmation that in Italy the burden of taxes is too excessive also emerges from the comparison on the “tax freedom day” of the main EU countries. In 2016, in fact, in Italy, families and businesses ideally finished paying the tax authorities on June 4, practically after 155 days of work. Compared to us, in Germany the "liberation" took place 8 days earlier (May 27), in the United Kingdom they celebrated 25 days early (May 10) and in Spain almost a month earlier (May 6). Only in France is the situation worse than ours: in 2016 the day of fiscal release "struck" on June 23, 19 days after ours (see Tab. 2).
It should also be emphasized that to honor the payment of taxes, duties and social security contributions, in 2016 we worked 1 day less than in 2015. If, on the other hand, we make the comparison with 1980, 36 years ago the "tax freedom day ”Started 40 days earlier. (see Tab. 3).
