In the paycheck, heavy, there are taxes on work. At least for now. According to the latest OECD data, in 2013 the tax wedge, the difference between the total cost of labor for the company and the amount collected by the employee, rose to 47,8% for single workers with no children. Italy is in sixth place in the OECD ranking. And who knows if he can improve his position after the interventions of the Renzi government.
At the top of the list are Belgium (55,8%), Germany (49,3%), Austria (49,1%), Hungary (49%) and France (48,9%). . The OECD average is 35,9%. At the bottom are Chile (7% wedge), New Zealand (16,9%) and Mexico (19,2%).
The increase in the tax burden on single workers in Italy derives entirely from income tax (+0,1%) which reaches 16,3% of the wedge. The contribution component, on the other hand, remained unchanged, both by the worker (7,2%) and by the employer, which amounted to 24,3%, the fourth highest figure in the OECD.
Single-income families with two children fare better, with the wedge down by half a point to 38,2%. A figure which is in any case the fifth highest in the area, with an average of 26,4%.
The wedge on the lowest wages (44,7% against 32,2%) and on the highest wages (53,2% – the third highest in the OECD – against 40,3%) in the case of the single worker. For families with two incomes, the gap widens: 40,2% against an average of 28,3%.
Average gross wages in Italy grew in 2013 by 1,3% compared to the previous year, reaching 29704 euros. The increase - writes the OECD - was lower than inflation for the same period (+1,4%). In the end, in real terms, the average wage dropped by a tenth of a point. The country with the highest wages is Luxembourg (almost 53 euros a year). Then, all above 40 euros, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Finland and Austria. In the queue Slovakia, with just over 10 thousand euros.
The total cost of the work amounts to just over 52 euros. Italy is fifteenth. At the top of the ranking, Belgium (almost 73 euros) and Germany (about 69 euros).
