Promoting a tax culture in Italy

Italian officials have been working hard to ensure the next generation of taxpayers understand the importance of taxes.

The Italian Revenue Agency (RA) and the Customs and Monopolies Agency (CMA) have been actively participating in the elaboration, review and validation of the TAXEDU digital portal and its content as well as of the Italian translations of e-learning modules. 

Thanks to the efforts of the RA, the TAXEDU portal has been incorporated into the national education programme “Fisco e Scuola” (“Tax and schools”) – which has been promoted in collaboration with the education ministry. Through this programme, official administrators organise meetings with students from primary and secondary schools (6 to 18 years of age) to highlight the importance of paying taxes. 

To further promote a tax culture in the country, a link to the TAXEDU portal was added to the Italian National Authority’s institutional website and news items about the portal was published in the online institutional journal FiscoOggi. 

The RA also took part in the 2019 edition of the “Financial education month”, an initiative promoted by the ministries of economy and finance, education and economic development, together with other associations of the economic sector.

Further to this, the Italian National Administrations have promoted their initiatives with schools via the publication of news items on the TAXEDU portal. These news items have been translated into English and disseminated thanks to the TAXEDU newsletter. They include: “Italian Revenue Agency among young people at “Palermo Chiama Italia”, “Institutions and young people together for legality”, “The Tour of Legality: An initiative for Sicilian students” and “Tax lessons for Italian children and students”.

Fourteen “Mobility era” games are also being used in schools, giving students the opportunity to test their knowledge on taxation, the English language and geography. 

Teachers using the TAXEDU portal were asked to complete a survey about it as well. 
Also, because Italian schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the RA offices promoted the TAXEDU online materials for distance learning. 

Future plans
The CMA is working towards incorporating the TAXEDU portal in a project aimed at secondary school students in their final year called “Alternanza scuola lavoro”. 

As part of this project, students will take part in a one-week training programme as well as visit the CMA. During this visit, they will have the opportunity to learn more about the activities undertaken by this agency and hear first-hand from customs officials about the TAXEDU portal and its microlearning clips which deal with the actions and history of their duties. 

In February of this year, students from a high school in Rome were set to take part in a five-day meeting at the headquarters in Rome as part of this project. Due to COVID-19, the event was cancelled. It is unknown when the activity will restart. 

Italy is building a tax culture!