Hear hear. Italy is a textbook example of the reason we need some form of tax office with powers to check people's finances (as much as I hate to admit it): because otherwise nobody will pay taxes yet demand ever-increasing benefits from the government that somebody else has to pay for.

Actually tax collection works quite well in Switzerland and even though tax declarations are based on self declaration (albeit based on an earning statement by the employer) tax evasion, or even - fraud is relatively low.

This is despite bank secrecy laws (which only apply in case of tax evasion, but not - fraud).

A big reason is simpleness of the tax declaration, transparency and - overall fairness of the tax code. Even though it's a rather progressive system.

selectodude, it's not cultural in the way you think. It's cultural in the way that Italians have created a perverse system in which some people don't pay much taxes and many people pay a lot. It's not cultural in the sense that the single Italian is genetically born not to pay taxes.

It's a matter of incentives for the individuals, not culture.

I think it's just cultural more than anything. The simplicity of paying your taxes and the tax code there has absolutely nothing to do with it.

This is absolutely not true. People pay taxes in Italy, actually, they have one of the highest tax burden in the world.

Do inform yourself a bit on the topic. It's way more complex than you think.

The issue isn't the tax burden, it's high rate of tax evasion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/world/europe/italy-tries-t...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/world/europe/italys-new-to...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230375390457745...

It's both:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...

There are people that do not pay taxes, but they are compensated by those who pay. The net effect is actually that the tax burden vs GDP in Italy is higher than in places like, say, Germany.

The reason Italy has a high public debt is not tax evasion, is excessive public spending. The reason many business are failing is not tax evasion, is a crazy tax law that kills many to reward few. That is why many Italian hate taxes, because they are unjust.

that's reasonable analysis, and my initila argument was deliberately simplisitc just to make a point, rather than to complexify Italian taxation systems. You and your interlocutors among you seem to have covered this nicely for anyone who was interested in the details (which I didn't have time for).

"people pay taxes in Italy"

You wanted to say "some people", since a third of the people don't pay them (see the Uif research published in 2012). It's a huge number.

Do inform yourself a bit on the topic. It's way more easier than you think.

Do read my comment below which explains better and do notice the quality of the comment I was answering to.