Gastos tributários em trajetória : análise das políticas de renúncia fiscal da união entre 1996-2019

Abstract

To date, many of the debates related to public policies have been directed at the scope of the tax structure of the Brazilian State and the importance of reforming its dysfunctional framework. One aspect that stands out in this is its high level of regressivity, that is, a regime that proportionally raises more from those who earn less at the expense of those who earn more. Although the regressive content conflicts with those good principles, such as those of isonomy and the ability to contribute, policies conducted by the State itself, to a great extent, contribute to such problems. One of these, tax expenditures, consists of a kind of tax incentive, distributed through the tax system for the most diverse purposes: from reduced rates for the import of capital goods to the tax exemption on the purchase of paper by the newspapers. In this sense, the present research goes deeper into the scope of the assessment of the tax spending policies implemented by the Union, between the years 1996 to 2019. Starting from a previous bibliographic review corresponding to the history of the tax subsidy policies introduced in Brazil, its recent course is traced, referring to the growth of the federal tax waiver, as well as of its endowment on the GDP and on the taxes earned by the State. The findings show an increase in spending at a more moderate pace between the period 1996-2005 and, from 2006 onwards, annual variations accelerate. With this, since that year, tax expenditures have totaled expenditures higher than those of the ministerial budgets of education and health combined and a relevant share of these started to be due to tax exemptions on social contributions. In addition, most of the resigned resources are concentrated in the South/Southeast axis of the country, and, among sectors of the economy, the industry had lost relevance of participation for the trade/services sectors and, more recently, for agriculture