The Tax Reform on Consumption and the Lack of Paradigmatic Rupture

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the effects produced by the Brazilian Tax Reform on Consumption (Constitutional Amendment n. 132/23) on the Constitutional Tax System. Two questions are addressed: the first is whether the inclusion of new principles and new competencies would require a change in the interpretation of the constitutional limitations on the power to tax (Article 150 of the Brazilian Constitution), moving away from a formal system of predictability to establish, henceforth, a more fluid system in the name of balancing principles; and the second is whether the inclusion of new, broader competencies in their respective materialities would also require a new interpretation of the rules on competencies, moving away from a system of conceptual rigidity to a more flexible system of granting competencies. Answering these questions is essential to understand the extent of the changes introduced in the Brazilian Constitutional Tax System by Constitutional Amendment n. 132/23 and the role played by constitutional norms that were not amended.