For decades, not long after its introduction in Italy in the 1972, the extent to which value added tax applied goods imported through national ports generate a substantial revenue for the state coffers and how much the ports of call or more properly the System Authorities Ports that administer them, benefit from these taxes. This "how much" has been repeatedly defined as null or very little from representatives of the various categories of the communities even after Decree-Law No. 83 in 2012 A fund has been established for the construction of infrastructure works in ports and road and rail links with ports that is fed with 1% of the annual VAT revenue produced the import of goods through each port system, with a maximum limit of resources that has gradually been redefined.

To denounce "how little" the ports benefit from the VAT revenue from their product (and whether it is produced or rather "collected" from ports is a matter that has always transcends these complaints), is today Spediporto, the association of the Genoese freight forwarders, who, "to give an idea of the proportion to the State's receipts from other taxes indirect", highlights that "the ports of Genoa, Savona and La Spezia, alone, they bring more money than car tax, lotto and almost as much as taxes on tobacco. The figure - explains Spediporto - emerges from the recent breakdown concerning the VAT produced in the 2021 and linked to the port law "Financial autonomy of the Port System Authority and Financing of the construction of works in ports". A fund that, moreover, is has been halved compared to what would be expected (1% of VAT produced). As for the Ligurian ports, Genoa and Savona - Spediporto specification - together they brought into the coffers of the State, about 6,500 million euros, 31% of the total collected by the Italian ports, which stands at around 20,500 million euros, while La Spezia, with over 2,000 million euros raised, represents 12%. And what comes back? - Spediporto denounces - a pittance: 10 and a half million to the ports of Genoa and Savona, little more than four million to La Spezia. Little also for the role of Italian port activities in the European chessboard where, with 8%, they contribute to gross value added of the economy of the continental sea (data from Unioncamere-Centro Studi Tagliacarne)».

"The Ligurian port system - underlines the director General of Spediporto, Giampaolo Botta - confirms himself among the most important Italian and European taxpayers with regard to VAT collections. In the face of such an important and strategic - he explains - in the coffers of the port system and the our region remains little or nothing. Yet these numbers are well highlight how port logistics, which supports the entire Italian production system, is what makes the most to the Italian State".