Two misdiagnoses of the tax issue in Brazil

Paulo Nogueira Batista

Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, 1985, vol. 5, issue 2, 168-191

Abstract: This paper provides a critical evaluation of some aspects of the recent debate onfiscal policy in Brazil. It argues that orthodox as well as heterodox analyses of the size of thefiscal deficit tend to incur conceptual or factual errors that seriously obstruct an adequateunderstanding of the issues involved. A mistaken comprehension of certain basic conceptsand even a tendency to disregard available statistical information are shown to be some ofthe main causes of the inconclusive nature of the discussions about the state of public financein Brazil. Section I examines the conceptual difficulties involved in the application ofthe concept of public sector borrowing requirements as defined in the IMF programme forBrazil. Section II discusses the validity of the statistics on the public sector’s “operational”deficit and the assumption that public finances are now basically under control. The finalsection summarizes the main conclusions. JEL Classification: H62.

Keywords: Fiscal policy; defict (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1985
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