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July 12, 2020 GDP falls and the tax burden rises again. In 2020, the weight of revenue on the Italian gross domestic product will increase by 0.5 points compared to 2019, thus helping to accentuate the contraction in spending and investments. Even greater is the hypothetical increase due to the contribution pressure, which could increase by 0.8 points in the year. This is estimated by Confesercenti.

"The Covid emergency - warns the association - is strongly proposing the question of the excessive tax burden that weighs on Italian businesses and families. A prompt exit from the deepest recession ever experienced by the Italian Republic cannot therefore leave aside an intervention by profound reform of the tax system. Acting simultaneously on the side of families and businesses ".

Insufficient tax wedge reduction on employees
"At the beginning of this month - Confesercenti recalls - the measure to reduce the tax wedge imposed on employees took effect. When fully operational, this is 5 billion which will return to the payroll of employees (3, 2 billion in 2020). This measure, prepared from the 2019 budget law, however, is now insufficient, considering the over 65 billion of consumption that will be lost due to the pandemic ".

"In addition - the association continues - the intervention helps only a part of the middle class, and in particular of the 6.3 million Italians with incomes between 28 thousand and 55 thousand euros, which are currently hyper-taxed by Irpef: despite being 15, 6% of taxpayers, in fact, provide almost a third (31.8%) of the total tax revenue (€ 50 billion), undergoing an increase in the legal rate of as many as 11 points compared to the previous bracket. however, it affects, and with decreasing intensity, only individuals with incomes of up to € 40,000, thus leaving out of benefit over 1.8 million taxpayers subjected to excessive tax pressure ".

Too many taxes
"The tax reform must go in the direction of a clearer and less punitive tax system. Without a lightening of this ballast, the restarting of household and business spending risks being very difficult. It is absolutely necessary to recognize at least one tax reduction also for incomes between 40 and 55 thousand euros, correcting once and for all the excess taxation on the middle class, without forgetting businesses: last year, the private sector recorded a strong increase in labor costs compared to the wages paid to their workers. A differential that the recessionary conditions triggered by the Covid crisis could make it unsustainable ", concludes Confesercenti.