Application of the obligation of proportionality to tax expenditures granted by Brazilian States

Abstract

The Brazilian tax system, structured in the last decades without planning mechanisms of national economic development, which contemplates the peculiarities of each state, coupled with an increasing autonomy of the states, made these entities to dispute the attraction of investments for their territories by granting tax expenditures. This has sparked a real fiscal war, which has further worsened their finances and their own loss of attractiveness for new investments or even the ability to maintain them. Given this difficult reality, this paper presents a proposal to apply the duty of proportionality in the granting of tax expenditures, assuming that a rigid analysis of the real need to grant such benefits prior to granting them, as well as an assessment of the possibility of adopting such incentives. Other economic development instruments can provide conditions for the development of states and, at the same time, ensure the soundness of public accounts in the future, thus ensuring the existence of minimum resources for application in social public policies for future generations.