The financial situation of the Regions worsens, affected by the reduction in transfers from the central State which is not entirely offset by the increased revenue from local taxation. This was noted by the Court of Auditors in the Report on the financial management of the Regions for the years 2011-2012.
The accounting judiciary reports a drop in state transfers of 21,89 billion euros in the four-year period 2009-2012 (-20,2%), only partially balanced by an increase in tax collections, which reaches rates of more than 10% per year.
In general, explains the Court, "compared to a regional expenditure corresponding to approximately 22% of public administration expenditure, the Regions were called upon to contribute to the containment of public expenditure, in the five-year period 2010-2014, for 34% of the set of corrective measures adopted for the entire public sector”. Therefore the balances of the consolidated cash account present a clear worsening.
On the other hand, the overall consistency of the debt remains substantially stable, despite the economic-equity trends in the aggregate of the Spas and Srls 100% owned by the Regions, showing losses in the two-year period 2010 -2011.
The Regions also suffer from the heavy tax evasion of Irap. The Report estimates a subtraction of the taxable base for this tax at 227 billion a year, on average for the three-year period 2008-2010. The annual loss of regional revenue (taking the base rate of 3,9% as a reference) would therefore settle at 9 billion (equal to approximately 20% of potential tax revenue).
The subtraction of the VAT taxable base, in 2011, would instead amount to approximately 250 billion, with a consequent annual loss of revenue in the order of approximately 46 billion (equal to 28% of potential revenue).
The scourge of evasion strikes both in the North and in the South, but in different ways. According to data from the Court of Auditors, evasion is more widespread in the South, with incidence levels above 40% for VAT and 30% for Irap, but the damage caused by the phenomenon, in absolute terms, is much greater in the North, due to the level of economic activity concentrated there.
Lastly, the concluding consideration of the Report does not assume any absolving tone of the evasion. It recalls how "the simultaneous recourse to tax increases at both central and local level contrasts with the inspiring principle of fiscal federalism, which requires the invariance of the overall tax burden on the citizen".
