Official sources · the words on this site
Here are the 23 words about the public accounts that you meet on this site, each explained in two lines following the usage of an official source: the glossary of the State General Accounting Department, Eurostat, ISTAT, the Banca d’Italia and the others listed at the bottom. For each word, the pages of this site where we use it. For 4 of them there is also an example you can try, with figures from the official sources.
In the sources: previsione definitiva di competenza
The State budget as it stands at year end: the budget law plus the changes decided during the year. For spending it is a ceiling, for revenue an estimate: on this site they are the “authorised spending” and the “expected revenue”, not money already paid or collected.
On this site: The accounts · Planned vs spent
In the sources: saldo netto da finanziare
Final revenue minus final spending, that is leaving out the loans the State takes out or repays. When it is negative this site calls it “to be financed”: the part of authorised spending not covered by expected revenue, which is not automatically new debt.
On this site: The accounts · Public debt
In the sources: missione
One of the broad headings into which the State budget divides spending by purpose: education, defence, pensions, debt. On this site mission names are rewritten in plain language; the official one appears when you open the item.
On this site: My taxes · The accounts
In the sources: impegno
The first step of spending: the State binds itself to pay a sum, for example with a contract, within the authorised limit. If it is still unpaid at year end, it stays among the residui (spending committed but not paid: a debt of the State).
On this site: Planned vs spent
In the sources: pagamenti
The money that actually left the State’s coffers. This site’s “paid during the year” covers that year’s spending; what is paid on the residui (commitments from previous years not yet settled) is shown separately.
On this site: Planned vs spent
In the sources: accertamenti
The first step of revenue: the State establishes that a sum is owed to it, by whom and how much. It is the right to collect accrued during the year, not yet the collection, and it can exceed the forecast.
On this site: Planned vs spent
In the sources: riscossioni
The second step: the assessed sum is actually collected. What remains to be collected is not necessarily evasion: timing and the rules for recording revenue matter.
On this site: Planned vs spent
In the sources: versamenti
The last step: the collected money reaches the Treasury, the State’s account at the Banca d’Italia. Between collected and transferred lies what has already been cashed but is still on its way.
On this site: Planned vs spent
The personal income tax, the main tax on individual incomes. It is paid in brackets on wages, pensions and other income: the higher rate applies only to the part of income above each threshold.
In the sources: scaglione
A band of income with its IRPEF rate, which applies only to the part of income inside that band. Since 2026: 23% up to €28,000, 33% from €28,000 to €50,000, 43% above €50,000.
On this site: My taxes
In the sources: contributi sociali
The money employees, employers and the self-employed pay for pensions and other protection, such as sickness and unemployment. It goes to social security bodies such as INPS, not to the State budget, but it counts in the tax burden.
On this site: My taxes · Pensions · Tax burden
In the sources: pressione fiscale
All the taxes and social contributions collected in a year by general government, divided by GDP. It says how much of the country’s income passes through the tax system, not how much any one person pays.
On this site: Tax burden
In the sources: residuo fiscale
What a territory pays in taxes and contributions minus what it receives in public spending, in the same year. The Territorial Public Accounts publish revenue and spending by region; the difference is calculated by this portal.
On this site: Regions
In the sources: debito pubblico
What general government (the State, local authorities, social security bodies) still has to repay to those who lent it money, leaving out loans between them. It is debt measured under the European rules, often as a share of GDP.
On this site: Public debt · Europe
In the sources: interessi
The cost of borrowing: what the State pays every year to the holders of its bonds, such as BTPs and BOTs, on top of repaying the sum at maturity. It is spending that pays for neither services nor investment.
On this site: Public debt · My taxes
In the sources: prodotto interno lordo (PIL)
Gross domestic product: the value of all the goods and services produced in a country in a year. It is the yardstick for comparing debt and taxes across countries and years.
On this site: Growth · Public debt · Tax burden
In the sources: inflazione
The rise in prices over time: the same euros buy fewer things. This site measures it with the ISTAT consumer price index (NIC), which follows the average basket of Italian households.
On this site: The accounts · Pensions · Wealth
In the sources: rivalutazione monetaria
The “In today’s euros” button brings past years’ figures to the value of the latest year with the ISTAT price index, so that distant years can be compared. It is a portal calculation: the source figure remains the “As published” one.
On this site: The accounts · Pensions · Public debt · Wealth
In the sources: occupati, disoccupati, inattivi
Employed means having worked at least one hour in the survey week, or having a job and being only temporarily away from it; unemployed means not working, looking for work and able to start within two weeks; inactive means being neither.
On this site: Jobs
In the sources: media
The total divided by the number of households, or of people. A few very large fortunes are enough to pull it up: that is why, for wealth, the average sits well above the median.
On this site: Wealth
In the sources: mediana
The value of the household in the middle: line up all households from the least to the most wealthy, and half are below it and half above. It does not change if the richest get even richer.
On this site: Wealth
A tenth of households, lined up from the least to the most wealthy: the first decile is the least wealthy 10%, the tenth the wealthiest 10%. The thresholds say how much the household on the border between two deciles owns.
On this site: Wealth
In the sources: ricchezza netta
Everything a household owns, that is homes at market value, accounts, securities and stakes in businesses, minus mortgages and other debts. On this site it is also called net assets.
On this site: Wealth
The definitions are written by this portal, in plain words: they are not quotations. Each follows the way an official source uses the word, and the link takes you to that source’s page.
The examples use the same data as the other pages: the ISTAT price index, the Banca d’Italia distributional accounts, the State’s final accounts on BDAP and the IRPEF brackets of the “My taxes” page. Every portal calculation is labelled as such next to the figure.