ROME, Aug 17: It may take Italy up to eight years to overcome tax evasion, which will be the key point in the government programme to cut back the state deficit, Prime Minister Romano Prodi told the Italian press on Thursday.

“A country which cannot collect taxes is lacking a sense of responsibility,” Prodi said, hinting at a “major” problem after statistics showed Italians were apparently cheating massively when filing their tax returns.

If finance ministry figures are to be believed 10 million Italian tax payers are considered poor, declaring revenues of less than 500 euros a month.

Of those self-employed -- 44 per cent of them farmers -- one quarter also had revenue of less than 500 euros, with a host of small companies moonlighting, according to experts.

In a country with a population of 58 million, 40 million said they had an average annual income of 16,000 euros and a mere 55,000 people said they made more than 200,000 euros a year, according to the ministry.

Italian Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa has pledged to wrestle down the deficit, which is expected to reach 4.0 per cent of output this year, to an European Union limit of three per cent next year, as promised by the previous government.—AFP