Uma contribuição à teoria das contribuições

Abstract

The insufficient conceptual definition of contributions, both in the Constitution and in the National Tax Code, has enabled the establishment of special contributions by the Federal Government without almost any control parameter, except for the requirements of earmarking of the proceeds from the collection for a particular purpose (social, economic or professional) and linkage of the benefits to the group of taxpayers. However, the first requirement (earmarking) is very difficult to control and is rarely observed, while the second (linkage) is still a too open concept, subject to an elastic interpretation by the courts, which have recognized its existence even in cases where the state action does not directly refer to the group of taxpayers. This, in effect, ppened to the Federal Government an almost unlimited field of taxation to explore through the creation of contributions that often are nothing more than simple "taxes with preestablished allocation", making even worse the problems of escalating tax burden, concentration of tax revenues on the Federal Government, growing dependence of states and municipalities on federal transfers and loss of rationality of the already precarious National Tax System. In view of this, the present work aims to contribute to the development of the theory of contributions, identifying new legal standards for its classification, structure and control. Through these theoretical inputs, it also seeks to bring greater rationality and coherence to the National Tax System, what indirectly also tends to promote the institucional development of the country.