Leis de incentivo econômico como normas indutoras de conduta, uma análise econômica dos incentivos tributários

Abstract

Taxation is a very important element in life in society, either because it is the form of support for State structures and activities, or because of the transaction costs borne by those who are subject to this taxation. The fact is, it’is an element present in the daily life of society. It turns out that this taxation is a transaction cost, therefore, it´s a market failure. Market failures can change the behavior of agents, moving them away from high-cost conduct, thus, high tax burdens will keep agents away from carrying out transactions. Notably, when an agent stops carrying out transactions the entire chain ends up losing, the State loses by failing to collect taxes, society loses by not reaping the positive externalities of transactions and the agent itself loses by not transacting. Otherwise, when the State reduces or removes the tax burden through exemptions, it generates the necessary stimulus for agents to transact. Thus, inversely to the effect of increasing taxes, their reduction can induce entrepreneurship, which generates positive externalities for society as a whole. As a result of this effect, the public entity can use the tax rule, establishing tax benefits, to induce the entrepreneurial behavior of agents, this is the State using the tax in an extrafiscal way to achieve a win-win situation. From an Law and Economics it’s possible to understand this correlation between an increase or decrease in taxes and changes in the conduct of agents.