Special Tax Installments within the Federal Government - A Confrontation with the Guiding Principles of the Fiscal Responsibility Law - LRF

Abstract

The Fiscal Responsibility Law (LRF) was born in an environment of evolution of public administration in the country and in the midst of a history of uncontrollable fiscal crises, aiming to meet the credibility that the competitive world economy requires. The LRF came permeated with principles that guide public managers towards the balance of public accounts, demanding responsibility not only in the management of public spending, but also in revenue collection. However, harmful and backward political habits have been hampering the achievement of the objectives outlined in the standard as to obtaining revenues in an efficient and responsible manner. As an example, we have the repeated installments, in super special conditions, generating great losses to the tax collection, as it appears from technical studies exposed in this work. Studies show that the policy adopted 17 years ago has been negatively inducing the behavior of taxpayers, reducing spontaneous tax collection, that is, taxpayers end up not paying their taxes always waiting for a new Special Installment, conventionally called Refis. In addition, OECD studies on installments in 27 countries indicate that there are no conditions similar to the Brazilian case in any country analyzed, being a good parameter to be adopted in Brazil. It is also inferred, through academic studies, that the complex Brazilian tax system and the inefficiency of lengthy administrative and judicial tax processes, together with the policy of special installments, have contributed even more to default, as they make it a good financing alternative. , in relation to obtaining resources, with high interest, from the financial system. To mitigate the problem, the transparency of the installment data, by beneficiary taxpayer, on the Federal Government's Transparency Portal, as with public expenditure, would provide an opportunity for greater control over the defaulting debtors, mainly by the organized society, making public transparency is an instrumental principle for the observance of the other guiding principles of the LRF, which are so important for the Democratic and Law State.