Tax reform in the Lula government: continuity and fiscal injustice

• Autor(a) principal: Brami-Celentano, Alexandrine
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Outros Autores: Carvalho, Carlos Eduardo Ferreira de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Katálysis (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/katalysis/article/view/S1414-49802007000100006

The tax reform proposed by the Lula government in 2003, quickly approved by Congress, remained at the limits of the proposals of the previous government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and his Social Democratic party (PSDB), inspired by neoliberal ideology. The small advances in reducing regressivity, such as exemptions for basic consumer products, have not altered the role of the tax structure in the concentration of wealth, with a predominance of indirect taxes and their regressive effects. Taxation has deserved little attention in the broad debate about social policies in Brazil, which concentrates on the allocation of public expenses and the efficiency of spending, without proper attention to the role of the tax structure in the concentration of income and wealth in the country. The article presents the regressive profile of the Brazilian tax structure, preserved by the reform of 2003 and discusses the neoliberal agenda that guides the initiatives of the Lula government in this field.