Rentals, so the flat rate coupon at 10% or 21% cuts tax evasion (but benefits the rich) – Corriere.it

The report on tax evasion published on November 5 by the Mef attached to the updated Nadef has put on paper the merits and defects of the flat rate tax on rents, the substitute tax for personal income tax and the additional fees relating to rents. So let’s start with the merits. The flat tax helped decrease rental evasion. In fact, since 2015 (when the flat rate coupon born in 2011 was reinforced with the 10% rate for the agreed rents) the evasionate dropped by 62%, passing from 1.275 billion to 487 million euros.

With the dry coupon the state loses 1.4 billion

Now the flaws. Going into detail, the report reveals a contradiction. If the dry coupon allows to recover 788 million euros per year, without the flat tax the revenues for the State would be much more: higher than 1.4 billion euros. In short, to increase the revenue at a time when the state needs even the last cent, we should return to ordinary taxation with the marginal personal income tax rate and with an inevitable consequent surge in tax evasion.

The paradox

What does this paradox come from? Generally, those who rent houses belong to the medium-high taxpayer bracket, that is, they are people who should pay the highest marginal personal income tax rate, that of 43%. With the flat rate coupon at 21% for the annual leases established between the parties and the 10% one introduced in 2015 for the agreed rents (in the municipalities with high housing voltage and in those with a lack of housing availability) the tax savings for landlords are significant . Furthermore, the income subject to coupon is excluded from the total income. For this the state collects less than it could.

the dry coupon benefits medium-high incomes

But the Mef report also highlighted another aspect: the benefits of the flat tax for rents deriving from the tax variation (about 20%) went above all to 1% of the richest taxpayers, while from the 60% reduction 10% of taxpayers with higher incomes enjoyed tax. So, as in the case of the criticisms leveled at the Flat tax for the self-employed, which the Meloni government now wants to extend to incomes of up to 85-90 thousand euros, even with the flat tax rate, it is the wealthiest taxpayers who benefit from the discount offered by the state. .