A necessidade e a oportunidade de um código de defesa do contribuinte

Abstract

In the context of fiscal relations in Brazil, the present study sets out from the republican principle of citizenship, searching for vulnerabilities of the taxpaying citizen to assess the need for a Taxpayer Defense Code in federal level. The analysis begins by studying the theories about “being a citizen” and their relations with taxation. Hence, the research focuses on the building of Brazilian citizenship and on the legal position of the taxpaying citizen. However, deep and broad vulnerabilities are identified in the relation between citizen and State; solutions presented by the scientific literature are critically analyzed, questioning whether a new legal code would strengthen fiscal citizenship. As a result, the study concentrates in the analysis of the bills proposing such code which are pending in Congress between the years 2000 and 2014, using the method of ex ante evaluation of legislation with the purpose of sorting which bill would technically best serve the interests of the Brazilian taxpaying citizen and how the legislator handles the opportunity of innovating in the legal order. Two bills have stood out in the analysis in each Legislative House: the PLS 298-2011 in the Senate and the PLP 38-2007 in the Chamber of Deputies. Therefore the study concludes that there is need for a new tax code, in the form of a complementary law, especially to mitigate formal and procedural vulnerabilities of the Brazilian taxpaying citizen, unfolding the taxpayer’s statute in the Constitution.