Flat tax, inequality under fire: for VAT numbers savings of up to 23 thousand euros

From the hearings on the measure, more than one critical issue emerges regarding the increase in the revenue or compensation threshold to 100 thousand euros for the flat tax on VAT numbers. Even yesterday there was no shortage of emphasis on the possible distortions produced by the flat-rate regime. In the numerical examples proposed by the PBO, remaining in the subsidized income tax regime instead of switching to the ordinary IRPEF regime could lead to savings of up to 23 thousand euros.

With a further reflection delivered to deputies and senators: «The withdrawal gap – reports the PBO – can also incentivize the transformation of employee relationships into collaborations with a VAT number, with a lower cost for the client and fewer protections and social security coverage for the worker».

The possible critical factors have also been highlighted by the Bank of Italy. The head of the Economics and Statistics department of Via Nazionale Andrea Brandolini underlined how the facilitated regime for VAT numbers produces "differences in the tax burden of taxpayers with the same contribution capacity".

But there are a series of detailed aspects that emerge from the analysis of the Bank of Italy: «In the presence of relatively high inflation, the difference in treatment between taxpayers who adhere to this regime and those subject to the progressive nature of the Irpef tends to accentuate due to the effect of fiscal drag, which affects the latter but not the former».

The other factor that is underlined concerns the disincentive to growth in size: «Fiscal and regulatory regimes differentiated by company size aim to reduce the burdens borne by smaller companies: they can favor their creation and survival at the beginning, but also disincentivize their growth beyond certain size thresholds». An effect that is consistent, according to Palazzo Koch, with "the concentration of individual businesses observed near the application threshold" of the flat-rate regime.