STATE VALUE-ADDED TAX COLLECTION EFFICIENCY IN BRAZIL

Abstract

Brazil has one of the highest tax burdens on the value added taxes in the world, from where it derives a significant part of the tax collection from the tax system based on consumption. Brazilian tax burden on consumption vary from 7% to 29.8% of the Gross Domestic Product, with the world average in 3.88% and 7.25% (OCDE, 2012). In 2015, the state VAT (ICMS) represented 20,56% of all tax revenues collected in Brazil. The purpose of this paper is to determine the relative efficiency of Brazilian state value-added tax collection. We used a three-step Data Envelopment Analysis and Stochastic Frontier Analyses method to rank states based on the relative efficiency of their respective tax agencies. The results indicate that Brazil does not have an efficient ICMS collection, and the states have a large difference in collection efficiency. The results can contribute to states to establish management polices to improve their ICMS collection and analyze if there is a moral hazard problem in Brazil. This study can contribute to Brazilian states to establish management polices to improve their collection and fills in a gap in the public finance/tax literature.