spesefiscali

Searchable, filterable cross-edition database of Italian spese fiscali (tax expenditures). Static web UI + reproducible Python pipeline.

Live: https://gfrt0.github.io/spesefiscali/

Scope

Tavola 1 of every Rapporto annuale sulle spese fiscali from RSF 2016 through RSF 2024 — roughly five thousand spese fiscali erariali across nine editions, with a year selector that swaps editions in place and a cross-edition stable ID so the same measure can be tracked over time.

Each row carries: identifying number; norma di riferimento with link to the consolidated text on Normattiva; descrizione (spacing-cleaned); tributo (normalised) and categoria fiscale; natura; termine di vigenza (structured); financial effects for the three forecast years T+1 / T+2 / T+3 relative to the edition year; beneficiari; page number with deep-link into the source PDF; and two governo attributions — governo istitutore (executive at the date of the istitutiva) and governo ultimo intervento (executive at the most recent dated act cited in the norma string).

See the Limiti e cautele modal in the UI before drawing conclusions.

Quick start

pip install -r requirements.txt
make all      # download PDFs, parse Tavola 1 of each edition, load SQLite, emit JSON
make web      # static UI on http://127.0.0.1:8000

Pipeline

Step	File	Output
Fetch PDFs	Makefile (curl)	data/raw/RSF-{year}.pdf × 9
Parse	src/parse_rsf.py {year}	data/processed/measures_{year}.csv
Tributo normalisation	src/tributi.py	(injected at export)
Vigenza normalisation	src/vigenza.py	(injected at export)
Normattiva URN resolution	src/normattiva.py	(injected at export; 100% across all editions)
Year-only URN → publication date cache	src/fetch_normattiva_dates.py	data/processed/normattiva_dates.csv
Governo attribution	src/governi.py	(injected at export)
Descrizione cleanup (optional)	src/clean_descrizioni.py	data/processed/descrizioni_clean_{year}.csv
Load	src/load_sqlite.py	db/spesefiscali.db
Export for web	src/export_json.py	web/measures_{year}.json, web/panel.json, web/years.json

Cross-edition stable IDs (measure_uid) key on tipo+number+article +comma anchor of the istitutiva, with year-level date granularity. The UI uses them for the per-measure trend data underlying the column formatters and for tracking measures whose number-of-the-day shifts between editions.

Optional: descrizione cleanup via Gemini 2.5 Flash on Vertex AI

The RSF PDFs occasionally drop inter-word spaces inside cells (del50%, gliinterventi). A pass through Gemini restores them. Output is character-invariant verified: the model may only add or remove whitespace; any other change → reject and keep the original.

pip install -r requirements-cleanup.txt
gcloud auth application-default login                # one-time
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT="your-gcp-project-id"
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION="us-central1"           # any Vertex AI region
make clean-descr                                     # all nine editions
# or: python src/clean_descrizioni.py --year 2022    # a single edition

Per-year caches: descrizioni_clean_{year}.csv. Rejects are logged to descrizioni_review_{year}.csv. Reruns are idempotent (cached); --retry-rejects retries only the previously-rejected rows.

The cleaned CSVs are checked into the repo so cloners don't have to re-pay the API cost.

Deployment (GitHub Pages + Workload Identity Federation)

A GitHub Actions workflow rebuilds the JSON outputs from the tracked CSVs and deploys web/ to Pages on every push. The optional Gemini cleanup runs only on workflow_dispatch with refresh_descrizioni=true, authenticated via WIF (no service-account keys).

One-time setup

1. Push this repository to GitHub.

2. Repo Settings → Pages → Source: GitHub Actions.

3. Run the WIF bootstrap locally (needs roles/iam.workloadIdentityPoolAdmin and roles/iam.serviceAccountAdmin on the GCP project):

   PROJECT_ID=<your-gcp-project-id> \
   GH_REPO=<your-gh-org-or-user>/spesefiscali \
     bash scripts/setup-gcp-wif.sh

   It prints the four variables to set on the repo (gh variable set …).

git push to main rebuilds and deploys. Trigger refresh_descrizioni from the Actions tab when a new RSF arrives.

Limiti e cautele

Reproduced in the UI as a modal (top-right "ⓘ Limiti e cautele").

• Stime ex ante, non gettito effettivo. The financial effects are MEF Commission forecasts, not realised revenue losses. Uncertainty is large for new, non-linear, or behaviourally elastic measures (e.g. Superbonus).
• Somme non additive. Σ over measures ≠ revenue recovered if you abolished them all. Interaction effects, behavioural responses, and general equilibrium effects all bite.
• categoria is a design choice. CREDITO_IMPOSTA is kept separate from DIRETTA even though tax credits typically offset IRPEF/IRES, because that's the question people actually ask. Not a legal distinction.
• Governo (ult.) is a parser inference. It is the executive in charge at the most recent dated act the RSF norma string cites for that measure. Measures whose RSF cell prints only the istitutiva collapse to that older government even when proroghe exist outside the cell. See the "Aggiornamenti all'articolo" roadmap item.
• PDF-extraction residuals. All 5000-odd descrizioni went through the character-invariant Gemini pass; a small tail retains source typos when the model couldn't restore spacing without changing non-space characters.
• What's missing. Only RSF Tavola 1 (spese fiscali erariali). Excluded: local TEs (Tavola 6), cessate-with-residual-effects (Tavola 5), social-contribution carve-outs, and anything the Commission doesn't classify as a spesa fiscale.

Roadmap

• Article-level "Aggiornamenti all'articolo" scrape on Normattiva to enrich governo ultimo intervento with proroghe that aren't printed in the RSF cell.
• Cumulative-cost chart (rank vs cumulative share of |Σ effetto|).
• Row-detail side panel with a properly sized cross-edition sparkline.
• Spese fiscali locali (Tavola 6).
• Join state-aid measures to RNA (Registro Nazionale Aiuti di Stato) beneficiary rolls; Dipartimento Finanze take-up statistics.

Sources

• MEF — RSF 2024 (and the 2016–2023 editions, linked from the Makefile)
• MEF — Commissione spese fiscali
• Normattiva
• Registro Nazionale Aiuti di Stato
• Dipartimento Finanze — statistiche dichiarazioni

License

Code: MIT. Data: derived from MEF publications (public domain); database packaging and cleaned descrizioni under CC BY 4.0. See LICENSE.