To combat evasion, the direction is the right one but the road is still long. While corruption continues to be the real scourge of the country. These are the two pieces of news that emerged from the general report of the State in 2011 of the Court of Auditors of this morning.
“The interest in the corruption phenomenon is given by the unfair costs it causes to the economy”. In fact, it not only has a negative impact on public spending but on the whole economy of the country. "The costs of corruption", said Attorney General Salvatore Nottola, "are immediate or direct, constituted by the increase in the expenditure of public intervention: there is a creeping increase in costs and an extraordinary increase which affects the costs of large works, calculated at around 40%”. NeverThe indirect and perhaps more serious damage of this scenario of rampant corruption is that inflicted on the national economy. Corruption keeps companies away from investing: it has been calculated that each point of descent in the corruption perception ranking (it seems that lItaly is currently in 69th place out of 182) causes the 16 per cent loss of foreign investment".
The "hard core" of tax evasion has been "just scratched" by the action to combat the tax evaders. This was stated by the president of the Section of the Court of Auditors, Luigi Mazzillo, underlining that it is necessary “to consolidate the results of the repressive activity, monitoring the behaviors subsequently held by those who have been subjected to control. Adhesive behaviors must be rewarded and supported and the exaggerations of formal controls and the traps of the minute and vexatious regulation associated with them must be avoided”. The tax burden certainly does not help which, according to the Court of Auditors, “is high. The mass of resources acquired with the tax levy is massive”.
