Rome is the Italian capital for non-payment of the waste tax. To say it is the analysis of Crif Ratings conducted on the financial statements of Italian municipalities which analyzed the lost collections on a per capita basis relating to the 2016 waste tax, highlighting the differences emerging at the regional, provincial and metropolitan city level.
In the province of Rome, 149 euros per citizen are missing and 198 euros if Rome is considered as a metropolitan city, with the lowest national percentage of collections on the ascertained (29%).
It is always Lazio - at the regional level - that occupies the first place on the podium of the regional classification for the non-collection of the waste tax with an average of 121 euros per capita (51% collected on ascertained amounts), followed by Sicily (approximately 77 euros), Campania (63 euros) and Calabria (about 45 euros).
Among the virtuous regions are those with a special statute in Northern Italy (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Trentino Alto Adige and Val d'Aosta), Lombardy and Veneto with lost income per capita of less than 10 euros (i.e. less than 4% of 'ascertained).
At national level, according to the Crif Ratings report, 20% of the fees due are missing every year, which translated in other words means that one in five Italian families does not pay. The shortage reached 1,8 billion in 2016 and averaged around 1,7 billion per year in the three-year period 2014-2016.
The data relating to missed collections, shown in aggregate on a per capita basis for the territorial area of reference, are calculated as the difference between the assessments of the Waste Tax ('TARI') and the amount actually collected. In general, CRIF Ratings notes that the TARI represents on average around 30% of total tax revenues and appears to be the tax that most lends itself to not being paid by users given the "almost universal" nature of the service. In fact, it is difficult to discriminate the collection for defaulting users.
Although the basis of the tax is linked to the principle of the "polluter pays" sanctioned by the European Union, the consideration due by the user is linked exclusively to elements that go beyond the actual use of the service (i.e. surface area of the house and number of components of the family nucleus), and therefore tends to amplify the negative externalities of often "unethical" behavior. Furthermore, from a financial point of view, the application of the logic of the tax leaves the risk of non-collection remaining with the Municipalities.
