Although it has become almost impossible to evade the license fee, Rai's revenues have not benefited from the measure that came into force in January 2016, quite the contrary. Based on what emerges from Mediobanca's annual R&D focus on the Italian television sector, 2017 revenues from public television licenses will amount to around 1,6 billion, the lowest figure in the last seven years.
What is the cause of this conspicuous decline? With the new collection system, the Revenue Agency expects to collect around 2 billion euros in 2016 thanks to the drop in tax evasion estimated from 30% in previous years to 5%. However, reports the analysis by R&S Mediobanca, the distribution of the total figure (with 5% withheld by the State on the basis of Law 190 of 2014, 33% of extra revenue to be allocated to the Treasury, the government concession tax and VAT) will result in approximately 1,7 billion in the coffers of Viale Mazzini.
The fee for Rai is also destined to decrease in 2017 when the annual fee will drop to 90 euros and the rate on the extra revenue will increase. According to R&S, the amount could even drop to 1,6 billion euros, reaching a new low since 2010. In its half-yearly accounts, Rai itself estimated that the share attributable to Rai will be 83,68 euros per subscriber in 2016 and will drop to 75,81 euros in 2017. In 2015, the last financial year preceding the reform, Rai had recorded license fee revenues of 1,637 billion.
