Fiscal decentralization and subnational fiscal autonomy in Brazilsome facts of the nineties

Resumo

This paper considers some facets of the recent Brazilian experience in fiscal decentralization. For this purpose, it describes the pattern of fiscal decentralization in Brazil and, subsequently, discusses some events of the nineties pertaining to fiscal relations in the federation.
 Historically, Brazilian experience with fiscal federalism has been marked by ups and downs in the degree of fiscal decentralization. Satisfactory conciliation between the need to ensure a reasonable degree of financial autonomy for subnational governments, on one hand, and the requirement of coordinating fiscal instruments in order to serve national interests, on the other, has not yet been attained.
 The analysis of events of the nineties does not reveal a consolidated model of federalism but a transition process characterized by attempts to correct the aftermath of both excessive centralization and immoderate decentralization experienced in sequence in the past. The paper concludes that preservation of fiscal decentralization may require the imposition of restrictions on the autonomy of subnational governments, this time for economic rather than for political reasons.

Ficha do documento

Tipo

Estudo

Ano

2001

Instituição

Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (Ipea)

Fonte

Repositório do Ipea

Idioma

Inglês

Acesso

Acesso aberto

Identificador

oai:repositorio.ipea.gov.br:11058/2061

Licença

Licença Comum

Abrangência

Brasil; 1960-1999

Temas

Finanças Públicas

Palavras-chave

Descentralização fiscalRelações fiscais intergovernamentaisAutonomia fiscalAutonomia subnacional