Nobody in Italy pays tax, which is why their finances are almost as bad as Greece's. And then there's ologarchs like Berlusconi, and the MAfia. Makes law requirements different
Hear hear. Italy is a textbook example of the reason we need some form of tax office with powers to check people's finances (as much as I hate to admit it): because otherwise nobody will pay taxes yet demand ever-increasing benefits from the government that somebody else has to pay for.
Actually tax collection works quite well in Switzerland and even though tax declarations are based on self declaration (albeit based on an earning statement by the employer) tax evasion, or even - fraud is relatively low.
This is despite bank secrecy laws (which only apply in case of tax evasion, but not - fraud).
A big reason is simpleness of the tax declaration, transparency and - overall fairness of the tax code. Even though it's a rather progressive system.
selectodude, it's not cultural in the way you think. It's cultural in the way that Italians have created a perverse system in which some people don't pay much taxes and many people pay a lot. It's not cultural in the sense that the single Italian is genetically born not to pay taxes.
It's a matter of incentives for the individuals, not culture.
There are people that do not pay taxes, but they are compensated by those who pay. The net effect is actually that the tax burden vs GDP in Italy is higher than in places like, say, Germany.
The reason Italy has a high public debt is not tax evasion, is excessive public spending. The reason many business are failing is not tax evasion, is a crazy tax law that kills many to reward few. That is why many Italian hate taxes, because they are unjust.
that's reasonable analysis, and my initila argument was deliberately simplisitc just to make a point, rather than to complexify Italian taxation systems. You and your interlocutors among you seem to have covered this nicely for anyone who was interested in the details (which I didn't have time for).
