Execução fiscal: eficiência e experiência comparada

Faz uma comparação entre o sistema brasileiro de execução fiscal e o de seis países selecionados: França, Alemanha, Estados Unidos da América (EUA), México, Chile e Argentina. Mediante comparação, busca-se entender se de fato há uma ineficiência crônica no modelo brasileiro e identificar experiências internacionais que permitam aprimorar esse quadro.

Medidas de simplificação na administração fiscal e qualidade do serviço prestado: Reflexão sobre a evolução recente

Dada a crescente complexidade da relação fisco/contribuinte, das questões de natureza económica que lhe estão subjacentes, do peso que a fiscalidade tem nas mesmas, da sua relação com o direito, seja no âmbito do exercício do poder de autoridade em sede fiscal por parte do Estado, seja quanto à salvaguarda do exercício das garantias dos contribuintes, das relações que toda esta matéria motiva a montante e a jusante e da forma como a mesma interage, a temática da simplificação, da qualidade e dos custos indexados tem vindo gradualmente a merecer particular atenção por parte de governantes, profissionais e estudiosos da matéria. Assim, no âmbito do tema que nos propomos apresentar, atentos o vasto universo de situações possíveis e passíveis de enquadrar e considerar neste trabalho, cuja abordagem aqui se pretende explanar, será nosso objectivo centrarmo-nos no essencial, nas situações decorrentes das medidas de simplificação que têm vindo a ser implementadas ao nível da Administração Fiscal, em resultado da prática e dos procedimentos adoptados pela Direcção Geral dos Impostos (DGCI), no âmbito da implementação de medidas de política delineadas a nível governamental e cujos objectivos se têm vindo a consubstanciar na pretendida redução de custos de cumprimento e de custos de administração. Por consequência, está em equação a matéria relativa aos denominados custos de contexto face a assumidos objectivos ao nível da pretendida melhoria da qualidade no serviço a prestar ao cidadão contribuinte por parte da DGCI e do reforço da competitividade fiscal, afigurando-se também interessante abordar um ponto diferente nesta temática e que resulta do risco associado à implementação das referidas medidas, tanto na óptica do sujeito administrado como da própria administração, e à noção que o mesmo incorpora em sede de auditoria tributária e dos custos daí resultantes. ABSTRACT: Due to the growing complexity of the relation between tax authority and the taxpayer, the underlying economical questions, the importance of the fiscal issues, its relation with law, be in the context of the exercise of the power of authority in fiscal field by the State, be in the subject of the guarantees of the taxpayers, the relations as for which all these matter causes and in the form as it interacts, the issue of simplification, of quality and of indexed costs has been coming to deserve gradually particular attention by rulers, professionals and scholars. Attentive to the vast universe of possibilities that fit the theme and that could be considered in this work, our objective will be centered in the situations resulting :from the measures of simplification that have been coming to be implemented at the level of the Fiscal Administration, resulting from the practice and the proceedings adopted by the Direcção-Geral dos Impostos (DGCI), in the context of the implementation of policies outlined at a government level and whose objectives are in line with the pretended lessening of accomplishment and administration costs. Consequently, the matter in equation is the so-called costs of context considering the assumed objectives at the level of the pretended improvement of the quality in the service to the taxpayer by the DGCI and the reinforcement of the fiscal competitiveness, seeming also interesting to analise the risk associated to the implementation of the above-mentioned measures, in the point of view of the administered subject as of the Administration itself, and in the underlying notion in the tax auditing area and the resultant costs.

Politicians as experts, electoral control, and fiscal restraints

We establish an argument for fiscal restraints which is based on the idea that politicians are experts in the meaning of the credence good literature. A budget maximizing politician is better informed than the electorate about the necessary spending to ensure the states ability to provide services for the economy. Voters, being able to observe the budget but not the necessary level of spending, attenuate the government’s spending level via electoral control. A fiscal restraint limits the maximum spending a government will choose if the level of spending ensuring the politicians reelection is not sufficient to ensure the state’s ability to provide services to the economy. We determine when such a fiscal restraint improves voter welfare and discuss the role of the opposition in situations where very high levels of spending are required.

Bailing out the FEG : is the Fair Entitlements Guarantee (formerly GEERS) approaching its own fiscal cliff?

This article discusses what recent statistics and public reports reveal about the funding of GEERS (now the FEG) and its bottom line. The article examines (1) whether there has been a “blowout” in the scheme which guarantees the recovery of employee entitlements in liquidations and (2) what might be done to put the scheme on a firmer fiscal footing.

Influence and increased funding in Canadian public libraries : the case of Alberta in fiscal year 2009–10

This exploratory case study examined the role of social influence in the decision-making process to increase public library funding in the Canadian province of Alberta in the 2009–10 fiscal year. Using Robert Cialdini’s theory of factors of influence (i.e., commitment and consistency, authority, liking, social proof, scarcity, and reciprocity) as a framework for analysis, findings show that consistency and commitment and authority were relevant and that liking was also important. These findings are consistent with Cialdini’s theory, which suggests that the quality of relationships is one factor that can most strongly influence a decision maker. This study gives insight into the factors motivating those involved in public library funding allocation decisions. No prior studies have examined the construct of influence in decision making about funding for public libraries at any level of government.

Compensation for environmental services and intergovernmental fiscal transfers : the case of India

This paper studies mechanisms to compensate local government for the public provision of environmental services using the theory of optimal fiscal transfers in India. Especially, we analyzed the role of intergovernmental fiscal transfers in achieving the environmental goal. Simply assigning the functions at appropriate levels does not ensure optimal provision of environmental services. Optimality in resource allocation could be achieved by combining the assignment system with an appropriate compensation mechanism. Intergovernmental fiscal transfers would be a suitable mechanism for compensating the local governments and help in internalizing the spillover effects of providing environmental public goods. Illustrations are also provided for India.

Essays on macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy rules

Economic and Monetary Union can be characterised as a complicated set of legislation and institutions governing monetary and fiscal responsibilities. The measures of fiscal responsibility are to be guided by the Stability and Growth Pact, which sets rules for fiscal policy and makes a discretionary fiscal policy virtually impossible. To analyse the effects of the fiscal and monetary policy mix, we modified the New Keynesian framework to allow for supply effects of fiscal policy. We show that defining a supply-side channel for fiscal policy using an endogenous output gap changes the stabilising properties of monetary policy rules. The stability conditions are affected by fiscal policy, so that the dichotomy between active (passive) monetary policy and passive (active) fiscal policy as stabilising regimes does not hold, and it is possible to have an active monetary - active fiscal policy regime consistent with dynamical stability of the economy. We show that, if we take supply-side effects into ac-count, we get more persistent inflation and output reactions. We also show that the dichotomy does not hold for a variety of different fiscal policy rules based on government debt and budget deficit, using the tax smoothing hypothesis and formulating the tax rules as difference equations. The debt rule with active monetary policy results in indeterminacy, while the deficit rule produces a determinate solution with active monetary policy, even with active fiscal policy. The combination of fiscal requirements in a rule results in cyclical responses to shocks. The amplitude of the cycle is larger with more weight on debt than on deficit. Combining optimised monetary policy with fiscal policy rules means that, under a discretionary monetary policy, the fiscal policy regime affects the size of the inflation bias. We also show that commitment to an optimal monetary policy not only corrects the inflation bias but also increases the persistence of output reactions. With fiscal policy rules based on the deficit we can retain the tax smoothing hypothesis also in a sticky price model.

The Macroeconomic Effects of Fiscal Policy in a Small Open Economy under a Flexible Exchange Rate Regime

This licentiate's thesis analyzes the macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy in a small open economy under a flexible exchange rate regime, assuming that the government spends exclusively on domestically produced goods. The motivation for this research comes from the observation that the literature on the new open economy macroeconomics (NOEM) has focused almost exclusively on two-country global models and the analyses of the effects of fiscal policy on small economies are almost completely ignored. This thesis aims at filling in the gap in the NOEM literature and illustrates how the macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy in a small open economy depend on the specification of preferences. The research method is to present two theoretical model that are extensions to the model contained in the Appendix to Obstfeld and Rogoff (1995). The first model analyzes the macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy, making use of a model that exploits the idea of modelling private and government consumption as substitutes in private utility. The model offers intuitive predictions on how the effects of fiscal policy depend on the marginal rate of substitution between private and government consumption. The findings illustrate that the higher the substitutability between private and government consumption, (i) the bigger is the crowding out effect on private consumption (ii) and the smaller is the positive effect on output. The welfare analysis shows that the less fiscal policy decreases welfare the higher is the marginal rate of substitution between private and government consumption. The second model of this thesis studies how the macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy depend on the elasticity of substitution between traded and nontraded goods. This model reveals that this elasticity a key variable to explain the exchange rate, current account and output response to a permanent rise in government spending. Finally, the model demonstrates that temporary changes in government spending are an effective stabilization tool when used wisely and timely in response to undesired fluctuations in output. Undesired fluctuations in output can be perfectly offset by an opposite change in government spending without causing any side-effects.

Fiscal imbalances, inflation and sovereign default dynamics

Resumen: La cuestión central que este artículo busca responder es como la política monetaria puede afectar el comportamiento de equilibrio de primas por riesgo soberano y cesación de pagos. El artículo se basa en el modelo de “una-tasa-interés”. La deuda pública se hace riesgosa a causa de una política fiscal activa, como en Uribe (2006), reflejando la habilidad limitada de la autoridad fiscal para controlar el superávit primario. El problema de insolvencia es debido a una oleada de mala suerte (shocks negativos que afectan el superávit primario). Pero en contraste a los resultados de Uribe, a medida que aumenta el costo de la deuda soberana (que resulta de un excedente primario débil), la cesación de pagos se anticipa y es reflejada por una creciente prima de riesgo en el país y una probabilidad de cesación de pagos. La cesación de pagos se define como un incumplimiento de un acuerdo contractual y por ende la decisión es tomada por la autoridad fiscal. Mientras tanto, objetivos conflictivos entre la autoridad monetaria y fiscal juegan un rol importante en llevar a la autoridad fiscal a la cesación de pagos sobre sus pasivos. La característica de la política del gobierno necesaria para restaurar el equilibrio después de la cesación de pagos también es analizada.

Palavra de mulher : oito décadas do direito de voto

Primeiro registro da participação feminina no Parlamento brasileiro, organizada em uma linha do tempo. A obra relaciona os discursos das parlamentares aos principais fatos da história política do país - do Estado Novo à ditadura militar, da redemocratização à Constituição de 1988 - e, também, narra o papel das mulheres no processo de construção da atual sociedade brasileira.

Direito à memória e à verdade : seminário

Seminário realizado pela Comissão de Direitos Humanos e Minorias da Câmara dos Deputados em 2009. As atividades foram dividido em 4 mesas: a primeira Da Comissão sobre Mortos e Desaparecidos Políticos a uma nova Comissão Memória e Verdade, nos moldes propostos pela ONU, teve como finalidade ouvir e debater as avaliações e as propostas de equacionamento de questões não resolvidas no período da ditadura militar; na segunda mesa foram apresentadas as recomendações elaboradas pelo Ministério Público Federal a partir da análise do livro Orvil, O Livro Negro do Terrorismo no Brasil, escrito por ordem do Ministro do Exército em 1986; na terceira mesa foram analisadas as revelações feitas por um agente secreto da ditadura militar, contidas no livro Sem Vestígios, de autoria de Taís Morais; a quarta mesa tratou do tema Tortura - crime imprescritível: estudo sobre a prática no Brasil durante o período 1964-1985.

O Estatuto da Cidade e outras leis nacionais no campo do Direito Urbanístico

Coletânea organizada pela Comissão de Desenvolvimento Urbano em comemoração aos dez anos da edição do Estatuto da Cidade. Contém o estatuto - Lei nº 10.257, de 10 de julho de 2011, e as principais normas nacionais no campo do direito urbanístico. Inclui também uma lista das normas integrantes do direito ambiental que possuem interfaces com a legislação urbanística de aplicação nacional.