To judge by their returns in the same year, Italian lawyers and dentists earned on average less than euro50,000; restaurant owners barely euro20,000; taxi drivers a pitiful euro11,500.

The “mass affluent” too—dentists, doctors, prosperous small businessmen—are placing money offshore and putting a broader swath of the tax base at risk.

Meanwhile, births in the summer months mean a much lower chance of becoming a high-earning football player, doctor or dentist.