The difference between the self-employed with a turnover of 85,000 and pensioners and employees with an equivalent income can reach, in extreme cases, over 800% of extra taxes paid by the latter. This is what a study by the Uil Fiscal Policy Service indicates, according to which in practice a self-employed worker would pay up to 27 thousand euros less in personal income tax each year, compared to employees and pensioners, not counting the discount on social security contributions. “An enormous difference that cannot be justified”, underlines the confederal secretary of the Uil, Domenico Proietti.
Based on the data relating to the 2020 declarations, the Uil study also highlights that employees and pensioners, who are 89.9% of the subjects who pay Irpef, paid 96.3% of the total Irpef in 2020. The flat tax, continues Proietti, «is an instrument contrary to fair and just taxation. Providing flat-rate schemes, for the benefit of particular categories, creates inequalities between people and increasingly places the burden of personal income tax on the shoulders of employees and pensioners» which, he continues, «rather than a tax on income, it is a tax on wages and pensions”. “A democratic state must be based on a fair and progressive tax system as envisaged by our Constitution – remarked the confederal secretary of the Uil -. We need a real reform that decreases the tax burden for employees and pensioners by making the system fully progressive and widening the income tax base.At the same time we must invest in a real strong battle against tax evasion, an endemic evil of our country, which every year steals over 100 billion euros from citizens, the equivalent of the amount spent for three budget laws”.