A distribuição da carga tributária no sistema brasileiro

Abstract

The Brazilian tax system presents a fundamental problem regarding distribution of the tax burden, that is, its excessive concentration on production and consumption of goods and services, at the same time that assets and income are undertaxed. Taxes levied on transactions of goods and services are considered indirect because they facilitate the transfer of the tax burden to society, via price, while those that affect income and assets are called direct taxes. Indirect taxes cause lower-income consumers to suffer, in terms proportional, a greater incidence of these taxes, which characterizes them as regressive and therefore unfair. The fact that the majority of Brazilian tax revenue (51.4%) comes from indirect taxes highlights the regressive nature of our tax system, which is reinforced even more so due to the existing distortions in its main direct taxes.