ICMS Verde e FMMA: a destinação de recursos às políticas ambientais nos municípios paraenses

Abstract

The Ecological Sales Tax is an economic instrument that, in the context of fiscal federalism, serves as an environmental incentive and redistributes tax revenue to municipalities. It was instituted in the State of Pará by Law 7.638/2012, in compliance with paragraph 2nd of art. 225 of the Constitution of Pará of 1989 and art. 158, IV, paragraph, II of the Federal Constitution of 1988. The Ecological Sales Tax is a new way of redimensioning the criteria for transferring a share of the tax on transactions related to the circulation of goods and services (ICMS), which, constitutionally belongs to the municipalities, in order to redistribute it to the municipalities that shelter conservation units and other protected areas in their territory. Thus, for this redistribution, the State Law inserted ecological criteria, which must be met by the municipalities. There is no doubt that the referred Law is of great significance for the State and it was enacted to reduce illegal deforestation in the Amazon biome. However, it determines that the municipalities must legislate on the destination of the tax resources received; moreover, it provides that such resources should be allocated to environmental funds. Thus, the present dissertation aims to critically analyze such provisions and identify the extent to which the Ecological Sales Tax resources are being used to benefit the implementation of environmental public policies in the municipalities of the southeastern region of Pará, in the years 2014 to 2018. For the development of the research, the deductive method was used; along with the use of multi-methodological research techniques, such as bibliographic, documentary, and field research. It is concluded that the Ecological Sales Tax has great relevance to the municipalities of Pará; however, in terms of financial values, little or almost nothing is being used to benefit the implementation of public environmental policies. In addition, it was found that the impositions of the State weaken constitutional principles such as that of municipal autonomy to legislate and that of non-linking of tax revenue to funds, since the Ecological Sales Tax is a tax and does not escape the exception contained in art. 167, IV of the Federal Constitution of 1988, and cannot be bound by the State without support in the constitutional text.