By Melina Rocha Lukic (York University, Canada) and Ana Carolina Monguilod (Insper; Associação Brasileira de Direito Financeiro)
Since the promulgation of its 1988 Constitution, Brazil has been trying to implement a national VAT. Over the past 30 years, the opposing interests of States and the Federal Government have caused at least three broad tax-reform proposals to fail in Congress. Moreover, several interest groups have also been opposed to changes.
Such conflicts of interests cannot hide the fact that tax reform has now reached a point of urgent necessity: Brazil’s tax system, one of the world’s most complex, creates severe economic inefficiencies, distortions and inequalities among economic sectors and taxpayers.
Source: kluwertaxblog.com
