New photograph from Istat on the second quarter of 2026. The report shows the tax pressure at 43.5%, up 0.5 points compared to the same period of the previous year. The estimates also note an increase in consumption (+1.7%) and an increase in disposable income for families of +0.4%.
The second quarter is described as a period of uncertainty, which, despite an increase in consumption, however sees the purchasing power of families decrease by 0.9% compared to the previous quarter.
Tax pressure increases
The second quarter of 2026, photographed by Istat, shows a tax pressure increasing to 43.5%. If compared with last year, when the data were already increasing but at 42.9%, it is at the highest since 2015 (Matteo Renzi was in government) when it was at 43.3%.
The Istat report tells us that:
in the second quarter of 2026 the tax burden was 43.5%, an increase of 0.5 percentage points compared to the same period of the previous year.
From 2023 to today, the tax burden between direct and indirect taxes, capital taxes and social contributions has grown. In the analysis by Pierfrancesco De Robertis, above Today.itwe read how the pressure began to rise again after an initial decline in 2023 and in 2025 it reached a higher level than that of 2022, going from 41.7% of GDP to 42.9% in 2025.
In other words, taking into account an average and not the amount that each of us pays to the State, he explains that “as Italians we pay more taxes than before”.
Income increases but purchasing power decreases
Another aspect analyzed in crude form by the Institute is the disposable income of consumer families. This increased by 0.4% compared to the previous quarter and consumption grew by 1.7%. Yet compared to the increases, household purchasing power fell by 0.9% in one quarter.
Wages, which grew by 14.2% compared to 2015, are being eroded by inflation. The new data on salary trends from the JobPricing Observatory, however, underline that only in eight regions is the salary really higher. And they are all Northern regions except Emilia-Romagna and Lazio.
That is to say:
- Lombardy with 36,331 euros per year;
- Lazio with 35,222 euros;
- Liguria;
- Trentino-Alto Adige;
- Emilia-Romagna;
- Piedmont with 34,272 euros;
- Aosta Valley;
- Veneto.
In other regions you earn less than the national average. While only two regions maintain purchasing power better: Molise with +2.8% and Marche with +0.7%.
The ones who lose the most are:
- Umbria with -15.1%;
- Veneto with -13.9%;
- Sicily with -13.1%.
In general, therefore, paychecks have been eroded by the high cost of living practically everywhere.
PA deficit and debt
In the first six months of 2026, on the public finances front, the net debt of public administrations in relation to GDP was equal to -2.0% (-2.1% in the same quarter of 2025).
According to Istat:
the primary balance of the public administrations was positive, with an impact on GDP of 3.0% (2.2% in 2025).
And so the current balance was also positive, with an impact on GDP of 2.9% (3.3% in 2025).
