THE TEMPLES TAX IMMUNITY AND THE CONCEPT OF RELIGION IN THE BRAZILIAN SUPREME COURT

• Autor(a) principal: Abreu, Rogério Roberto Gonçalves de
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Campos, Hélio Silvio Ourém, Colares, Virgínia
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Eletrônica do Curso de Direito da UFSM
• Texto Completo: http://periodicos.ufsm.br/revistadireito/article/view/35079
• topic: Brazilian Supreme Court; Concept of religion; Temples tax immunity.; Concepto de religión; Inmunidad fiscal de los templos; Supremo Tribunal Federal.; Conceito de religião; Supremo Tribunal Federal; templos de qualquer culto

We want to discuss — through the exam of decisions on temples tax immunity — whether and how the Brazilian Supreme Court has established the concept of religion. First, we point out the importance of concepts regarding the definition of rights and obligations, especially in tax law. Second, we present the general grounds on temples tax immunity within the Federal Constitution of Brazil and the law doctrine. Third, we described the procedure of gathering and selection of the material we handle as a corpus, found at the Supreme Court’s website and formed by decisions on temples tax immunity. The exam and classification of this material allowed us to identify the RE 562.351/RS as the only decision whereby the concept of religion has been really discussed. Next, we analyzed the text of the opinions of each judge who took part in the decision. Finally, we concluded that, despite the fact that the Brazilian Supreme Court rules about tax rights, duties and obligations based on the idea of religion, the court, in a plural composition, has never reached to a concept about what has or can be considered religion or religious.