Countries Studies of Tax Systems and Reforms (Università di Pavia)

“Tax Systems and Tax Reforms in Latin America” was edited by Luigi Bernardi, Alberto Barreix, Anna Marenzi and Paola Profeta, as a Working Paper n. 587, March 2007, Societa italiana di economia pubblica, Università di Pavia. The document includes eight countries sudies in Latin America and the chapter on Brazil was written by José Roberto Afonso and Rafael Barroso. “Herein the Brazilian tax system is reviewed in detail, covering the key points of its main taxes and contributions. A brief historical overview spanning the tax system as well as the budgetary and economic framework is provided, accompanied by extensive data on the tax structure. Two other relevant issues are subsequently addressed: the regressive nature inherent in the system and the tax competition that exists between sub-national governments. Finally, the paper assesses the two recent failed attempts to reform the tax system and suggests some hypotheses as to why these attempts failed”. (PDF in English) .