“Tax competition has always existed and will not end”, says Everardo Maciel
According to him, it is necessary to maintain the limit of the so-called extrafiscality, which is a way for governments to tax some product to induce behaviors
The tax consultant and partner-president of Logos, Everardo Maciel, defended during the seminar “Mail Debate: Taxation and Economic Development”, That fiscal competition has always existed and will not end, but that it is necessary to maintain the limit of the so-called“ extra-fiscality ”, which is a way for governments to tax some product to“ induce conduct ”.
The practice of extrafiscality, in the consultant's view, is reasonable when it serves to restrict the consumption of that product, but assesses that the “excess” creates problems. "Once you start to exaggerate, they provoke reactions," said Maciel, exemplifying the case of taxation on cigarettes in Brazil.
“When they make mistakes in the hand. We are going to raise taxes to make people stop smoking, ”he said. “In practice, people will not stop smoking. This is not the way to induce this conduct. People are going to smuggle, ”he added, noting that this generates a significant and growing presence of the product from neighboring countries. "It is no use having a tax that encourages this type of criminal behavior," he declared.
Inspection and collection
Maciel also pointed out that there are "businessmen" who create businesses to act illegally, which is enhanced by legal uncertainty. “Any tax issue that goes to the Supreme Court takes us 15 years, 20 years, to pacify,” he said. "We now have 51% of GDP (being discussed. The drama is: if you charge, it breaks the country, and if you don't, it breaks the country," he added.
