The State landed 24.7 billion euro in 2023 as a result of efforts to collect unpaid taxes, the director of Italy's inland revenue and tax collection agencies Ernesto Maria Ruffini said on Monday.
This is 4.5 billion euro more than the amount collected the previous year, he added.
Ruffini said last year the fight against tax evasion led to the recovery of a further 6.7 billion euro for other tax beneficiaries such as the national social security institute INPS and municipalities, taking the total amount collected to 31 billion euro.
By comparison, the 2024 budget law contemplated measures worth a total of 28 billion euro.
Instead the tax gap, namely the difference between the total amount of tax due and the amount actually collected due to fraud, evasion, non-payment and unintentional errors and omissions, fell by 23 billion euro from 89.5 billion euro in 2016 to 66.5 billion euro in 2021.
The figure does not take into account excise duties and the property tax IMU.
Ruffini said the amount of tax paid spontaneously by citizens last year increased by almost 27 billion euro over 2022 to reach 536.2 billion euro, a rise of 5%.
"Not only is this the highest result ever, but it is 110 billion euro more than that recorded in 2019, the year before the two-year pandemic," said Ruffini.
"The fact that spontaneous tax revenue is increasing year after year is particularly significant and must be read in parallel with the progressive decrease in the tax gap recorded in recent years, also due to the digitalization of the tax system, which makes it more difficult to engage in evasive behavior," he concluded.
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