Tax, Italy is ‘divided’ in two: 24.8 million people have no income and evade taxes

Almost half of Italians, 24.8 million people, evade taxes: they have no income, do not pay taxes and lives at the expense of the communitywhile 18.78% of taxpayers, just under 8 million, declare incomes of 35 thousand euros and above and pay 65% ​​of the entire Irpef on their own. This is the photograph that emerges from the report of the Social Security Routes Observatory on tax revenues, presented this morning to the CNEL during a conference promoted in collaboration with Cida-Italian Confederation of senior managers and professionals.

The analysis shows that the total income produced in 2024 amounts to 1,076 billion euros (1,028 in 2023), with an annual growth of 4.73% (5.9% between 2023 and 2022 incomes), higher than that of nominal GDP, which grew in 2024 by 2.85%. The taxable income stands at 1,013 billion and on this taxable base a gross Irpef tax for 2024 of 272.23 billion has been calculated.

Who pays the taxes?

Those who submitted a tax return were 42,837,963 (267,885 more than in 2023) so each declarant corresponds to 1,375 inhabitants. The ‘payers’, i.e. those Italians who pay at least one euro of Irpef, are only 34.105 million and of these over 2.2 million pay a total of 213,097 euros. Therefore, around 46% of Italians (the remaining 24.8 million) have no income, do not pay taxes and live at the expense of the community. Analyzing the declarations by income brackets, those who declare negative incomes (i.e. with deductions and allowances higher than the declared amount) are 1.14 million. There are approximately 8 million people declaring incomes from 0 to 7,500 euros gross (7,968,832), they live on average on less than 3,500 euros a year and pay an average of 19 euros in Irpef a year.

Average incomes

Another 7.42 million subjects declare incomes between 7,500 and 15 thousand euros gross per year, live on 11,250 euros on average and pay 204 euros per year in Irpef. Between 15 thousand and 20 thousand euros of gross income we find 4.79 million citizens who pay an average annual tax of 1,773 euros, which is reduced to 1,288 euros per single inhabitant. With gross incomes between 20 and 26 thousand euros there are 6.65 million while another 3.05 million declare between 26 and 29 thousand euros gross per year. In total, Italians with incomes up to 29 thousand euros represent 69.78% of the total and pay the
21.33% of all Irpef.

Those who declare 35 thousand euros gross per year (about 2 thousand euros net per month) and above are 18.78%, just under 8 million taxpayers, but they pay 65% ​​of the entire Irpef. Approximately 70% of Italians who declare incomes of up to 29 thousand euros pay 21.33% (2 points less than in 2023) of the entire Irpef, a tax of 46 billion equal to a third of healthcare spending.

The highest incomes

Out of a population of 58,943,464 units at the end of 2024, the report highlights, those who declare incomes of 300 thousand euros gross per year and up (around 155 thousand euros net of taxes, contributions and non-deductible charges), are only 58,700, i.e. 0.1%, of the population. These citizens pay 6.49% of all Irpef for a value of 14.03 billion and a per capita amount of 238,006 euros and, presumably, a large part of Ires and Irap. Alone they pay more Irpef than 27.8 million Italian citizens with incomes up to 20 thousand euros, who in total pay 10.84 billion. Those who declare between 200 thousand and 300 thousand euros are 89,358 (3 thousand more than in 2023), they pay 7.8 billion Irpef equal to 3.63% of the total with an average tax of 87,065 euros.

Between 100 thousand and 200 thousand euros there are 601,622 declarants (45 thousand more than in 2023) who pay 26.2 billion equal to 12.14% of the total and an average tax of 43,600 euros. Followed by 1.9 million who declare between 55,000 and 100,000 euros of annual income and shoulder 39.75 billion in Irpef with an average payment of 20,634 euros and those between 35,000 and 55,000 euros (5.36 million), who pay 52.6 billion in tax with an average payment of 9,815 euros.