Fiscal federalism in Italy at a glance Distribution of fiscal revenues (2006) Local Governments 7% Distribution of public expenditure (2006) Local Governments 19% Regions 24% State 53% Source: Region of Veneto State 69% Source: Region of Veneto Regions 28%
The distribution of fiscal revenues between central and local governments THE DISTRIBUTION OF FISCAL REVENUES BETWEEN CENTRAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS (2006) State Regions Local Governments Total Billions Fiscal Revenues 327.091 111.961 31.153 470.205 - Direct Taxes 182.732 56.642 21.602 260.976 Income tax 131.320 16.853 7.701 155.875 Corporate tax 37.965 2.526 0 40.492 IRAP (Regional business tax) 0 35.645 0 35.645 Others 13.446 1.617 13.901 28.964 Indirect Taxes 144.360 55.319 9.550 209.229 Turnover Taxes 98.723 46.026 3.444 148.193 VAT (value added tax) 74.158 44.925 0 119.083 Stamp duty and registration fee 10.249 926 1.275 12.450 Others 14.316 175 2.169 16.660 Taxes on production 25.538 9.293 6.106 40.938 Monopolies 9.181 - - 9.181 Lottery tickets 10.917 - - 10.917 Source: Region of Veneto
Region of Veneto at a glance With 4.9 million inhabitants, the Region of Veneto in the north-east of Italy is the third-largest contributor to the national economy after Lombardy and Lazio, accounting for 9.4% of Italy's GDP. Its buoyant economy is reflected in GDP per capita 16% and 21% above the national and EU-27 averages, respectively. Positive migration inflows of young people attracted by the dynamic economy have contributed to the region's structurally low unemployment levels (3.5% in 2008 vs. 6.8% Italy). Veneto s economy primarily relies on the service sector, accounting for 63% of regional output. Within services, the tourism sector is an important and growing driver for Veneto s economy.
Veneto, Region of - Revenues composition Refinancing 16,3% Revenues (2010) New borrowing 4,5% Other revenues 2,3% 13.306,4 Billions State and UE transfers 8,3% Fiscal revenues 68,6%
Veneto, Region of - Fiscal revenues composition Fiscal revenues (2010) Gasoline taxes share 3,4% IRAP (Regional business tax) 34,4% VAT's share 48,8% Natural gas tax 0,6% Automobile tax 6,6% IRPEF- personal income tax surcharge 5,8%
Regional fiscal revenues: an overview
Regional fiscal flexibility s constraints Maintain the progressivity of the Tax System Avoid the double taxation Respect the benefit principle (the price paid by users has to be equal to their benefits) Ensure compatibility with the common market ( aid granted by a Member State or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between Member States, be incompatible with the common market )
Regional borrowing s constraints qualitative constraint: regional borrowing has to finance public investments; quantitative constraint: debt service level < 25% non-earmarked fiscal revenues
Fiscal federalism in Italy: perspectives (1) Law 42/2009 introduces some very important principles which guarantee a higher level of revenue autonomy for Regions and local authorities. First of all, it provides for the assignment of autonomous resources to municipalities, provinces, metropolitan cities and regions, in relation to their respective competence, according to the principle of territoriality. The resources, therefore, stem from pre-requisites connected to the territory. Secondly, the law guarantees that Regions and local authorities can shift the taxes within the contraints set by the state law. Regions (and partially local authorities) will be entitled to change the rates of their taxes and decide about deductions and allowances. Moreover, they will be entitled to change the rates of the surtaxes on the taxable bases of the state taxes. Moreover, they will be entitled to set taxes on the basis of pre-requisites which are not yet subject to state taxation (very few indeed).
Fiscal federalism in Italy: perspectives (2) Thirdly, different forms of financing are envisaged. For regions, the spending for the so called LEP (ELSs - essential levels of service which shall be guaranteed all over the country; in particular: health care, education, welfare) shall be fully financed through equalization. The full financing shall not be related to the costs really incurred into (historical expenditure), but to the standard needs, which is the expenditure corresponding to an average good management. Regional and local administrations are thereby forced to be efficient, otherwise they must resort again to fiscal leverage to get the financing. Citizens will judge them on the basis of this. For all of the other expenditures of Regions (which are estimated to be equal to 15-20% of the overall amount of their spending) the equalization shall reduce the differences between the tax capacity per inhabitant but shall not guarantee the full financing. The part which is not financed through equalization shall be financed through the higher level of tax flexibility guaranteed.
Fiscal deficit: comparison among Italian regions Italia. Residuo fiscale della Amministrazioni pubbliche per regione. Euro procapite. Media 2002-2006 Lombardia 3.275 Emilia Romagna Veneto 2.606 2.801 Piemonte Toscana Marche 884 1.129 1.111 Lazio 340 Abruzzo -632 Trentino Alto Adige Liguria Friuli Venezia Giulia Umbria Campania Puglia Molise Sardegna Basilicata Sicilia -931-985 -1.144-1.205-1.358-1.466-1.836-2.223-2.289-2.406 Calabria -2.864 Valle d'aosta -3.920-5.000-4.000-3.000-2.000-1.000 0 1.000 2.000 3.000 4.000 Fonte: elab. Unioncamere del Veneto su dati Dipartimento per le politiche di sviluppo Lombardy, Emilia Romagna and Veneto are the regions with the highest fiscal deficit, contributing in a substantial manner to supporting national redistribution. The central state levies much more from these regions that it actually returns in terms of public spending. The resources levied from these three regions make up for the deficit of 8 regions.
Comparison among European regions Graph Fiscal deficit in some European* regions (in % of regional GDP). Years 1997, 2000 Lombardia (IT) 11,5 Veneto (IT) 10,3 Emilia-Romagna (IT) 10,1 Catalogna (ES) Stockholm (SE) South East (UK) Baden-Wuttemberg (DE) Ille-de-France (FR) Bayern (DE) 3,5 4,4 4,4 6,7 7,6 8,1 * for Italian regions data refer to the year 2000, for the other regions to the year 1997 Source: Processed on data supplied by Unioncamere Veneto for the Italian regions; data supplied by Novel, Tremosa (2005) for the other regions. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 European countries have strong differences in regional and national public finance. There are regions that contribute more than others to territorial solidarity: the share of fiscal deficit in % of regional GDP ranges from 3.5% of Bayern to 11.5% of Lombardy. The lack of coordination of national and European cohesion policies might result in unfair competition within EU countries.
Statistics on regional government accounts at European level The Regional Public Accounts criterion of the allocation of the intervention of the government entities provides a qualification of the intensity of the local public intervention, but it is not methodologically consistent with the procedure utilized to regionalise the revenues. The RPAs data do not permit the immediate construction of regional balances. The Fiscal deficit, as the difference between the Public Administration s revenues and expenditure, gets the dimension of the horizontal equalization in case of fully implemented fiscal federalism. WHAT WE ASK TODAY To know other database on consolidated accounts of the public sector at regional level similar to RPAs database and provided from other European Member States If the Italian database of the RPAs is in the forefront in terms of transparency of the public financial flows If Eurostat are interested in creating a network to collect this kind of data 13
Veneto in Europe - Proposals Fiscal federalism and European policy strongly enhance region and local government s role but it s necessary a closer coordination between the EU and national Cohesion Policy to avoid the unfair competition between European regions. Revision of the accounting policy adopted by the EU, which will be available in 2014, allowing detailed information on financial flows between the state and local administrations also at regional level (NUTS 1 e 2). Fiscal Federalism, advantageous taxation and State aids are elements strictly connected one to each other. This connection is the result of the decision handed down in case No. C-88/03 - Portugal versus the European Commission - where the European Court of Justice explicitly acknowledges the compatibility of the fiscal concession measures adopted by internal regional institutions with EU law. With the adoption of Law 42, 2009 Italy also has set the requirement of financial autonomy for local authorities, these entities are required to implement tax measures to benefit without incurring the ban on "state aid" as referred to in Art. 87 (1) EC.