ICMS: federative crisis and obsolescence

• Autor(a) principal: Afonso, José Roberto Rodrigues
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Lukic, Melina Rocha, Castro, Kleber Pacheco de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Direito GV
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.fgv.br/revdireitogv/article/view/78026
• topic: State finances; Federalism; Indirect taxes; Finanças estaduais; Federalismo; Imposto sobre circulação

This article argues that the tax on goods and communications (ICMS) has become obsolete, losing more and more space in the Brazilian tax system and with that also deepening the crisis of the state governments in this federation. Although it is still the most important tax of the country in terms of collection, it weighs relatively less and less on the global tax burden, as well as cause damages to social equity and company competitiveness. Recent legislative changes have turned only to the past, in order to validate benefits of the fiscal war, but no efforts were made to adjust the tax for the future of the digital age. In a new era in which goods will be inevitably loosing relevance, the ICMS will become even more obsolete and the states even less relevant in the federation. This scenario will not change unless replaced by a value-added tax, and yet it may be necessary to reinvent all tax system to correspond to the new economy and society.