Italy conquers the unflattering primacy, among the advanced countries, of the greater weight of the shadow economy on the GDP.
According to the estimates of the Confcommercio research office, the undeclared economy in Italy reached 17,4% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012-2013, subtracting the tax base for 272 billion euros from the tax authorities.
The measure is enormous not only in absolute value but also in international comparison: Italy significantly outpaces Mexico, in second position, with a level of undeclared economic activity equal to 11,9% of GDP, therefore the countries to which usually compare themselves, from Spain (9,5%) to the United Kingdom (6,7%), from the United States (5,3%), to Sweden and Austria (4,7%), to get to France (3,9 %).
The obvious and direct consequence of this situation is that the tax burden is unloaded on a smaller slice of the population. According to Confcommercio, the effective tax burden, ie the revenue observed as a percentage of GDP, stands at 54% this year, the top among advanced economies. The apparent tax burden, according to conservative calculations that do not include VAT increases, was instead 44,6% of GDP in 2013.
