Taxation and Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities

an Analysis of Personal Income Tax

Abstract

In recent decades, the understanding of disability has evolved from the medical model, which conceived it as an individual pathological condition, to the biopsychosocial model, which recognizes disability as the result of the interaction between individual impairments and social barriers. This paradigm shift, consolidated by the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with constitutional status, has direct implications, including for tax law. Furthermore, the principle of tax justice, expressly established by Constitutional Amendment No. 132/2023, in the context of taxation of persons with disabilities, is implemented through three dimensions: respect for the principle of equality, observance of the principle of ability to pay, and the use of taxation as an instrument for eliminating social barriers. Despite this, the rules regarding the taxation of persons with disabilities under personal income tax reveal inconsistencies that contradict both the biopsychosocial model and the principle of tax justice.