Have taxes really gone down? (2004)

Eurispes measured the tax burden last year (2003) by comparing it with that of the previous year (2002)in a study entitled ‘Have taxes really fallen?’. At first glance, the data produced do not seem to confirm the flashy advertising claims that millions of Italians have paid less tax. Instead, according to Eurispes’ processing of information published by the Agenzia delle Entrate, the tax burden increased by 6%, which is much higher than the increase in income in the same year. Indirect taxes increased by 4%, but it is the amnesty that is largely responsible for the increased revenue in 2003.
Indirect taxation increased its weight even beyond the increase in inflation and thus subtracted disposable income from citizens and in particular from the poorest, as is always the case when the proportion of direct tax revenues shifts in favour of indirect taxes.
Eurispes has also calculated the amount in euros of the greater fiscal sacrifice in relation to IRPEF alone, and has discovered that it is not just a few cents: on average, in 2003 every Italian paid 139 euros (270,000 lire) more in personal income tax than in the previous year.