Tax reform in Brazil: Guiding principles and proposals under debate

The evaluation of a tax system - that is, the set of legal rules that governs the exercise of authoritative rule by various government entities in the form of tax collection in the country - is notoriously controversial in Brazil, as elsewhere. The tax system plays a central role in a modern economy, insofar as it affects a country's economic growth and competitiveness in various and complex ways, as well as its social and regional distribution of income. It is also a crucial way to determine how much of the costs each group of citizens and companies, and from which regions of the country, will have to shoulder to finance a given State type and size, and its provision of public services and goods.