The demented Taxation (1995)

This Eurispes dossier on taxation in Italy highlights the contradictions and distorting effects of the mechanisms of our tax system. In modern economies, the tax system should be simple and efficient and pursue objectives of fairness and development. The comparison with other countries confirms that our tax system is far from these features. In fact, our tax system continues to be managed with the prevailing intention of draining resources to contain the imbalance of public finance. This has so far prevented a real reform of taxation and has led to further increases in the tax and contribution burden, now well above the EU average, in the number of taxes and to a progressive decline in the quality of taxation. Taxation is still heavily unbalanced towards direct taxes. In recent years, there has been an increase in the use of new taxes, often abstract, adopted by means of disjointed and temporary measures that only generate temporary revenue, as well as being misleading, such as advance payments, tax advances and exemptions. The eighteen chapters of the study take stock of: the list of taxes, the tax calendar, the main tax measures, tax rebates, outdated tax laws, the capacity of the tax authorities to collect taxes, taxes on luxury, taxes on taxes, the affair of the basic medical care tax, the VAT jungle, taxes on capital, procedures and traps, the taxation of real estate, the impact of taxation on businesses, the car between bureaucracy and taxation, the retail sector, the innovative tertiary sector, craft enterprises, agriculture and double taxation¸ and finally, interviews with experts.