TITLE:
The Influence of Fiscal Consequences on the Brazilian Supreme Court’s Ratio decidendi in Tax Matters
AUTHORS:
Renato Peluzo
KEYWORDS:
Consequentialism, Fiscal Impact, Ratio decidendi, Legal Certainty, Modulation, Brazilian Supreme Court, Tax Law
JOURNAL NAME:
Beijing Law Review,
Vol.16 No.4,
December
16,
2025
ABSTRACT: This paper examines the extent to which economic consequences—particularly aggregate fiscal impact—enter the Brazilian Supreme Court’s (Supremo Tribunal Federal, STF) ratio decidendi in tax cases. The article advances the hypothesis on tax cases after the recent legislation that incorporates the consequentialist arguments in Brazil. We hypothesize that consequentialist arguments have been used by STF to decide tax matters in Brazil not only as time-management techniques, such as modulation, but also regarding the merit. The Case selection followed: (i) judgments with general repercussion; (ii) references to fiscal or macroeconomic effects; and (iii) the discussions of modulation of effects. Using a hypothetico-deductive method and STF landmark cases, we offer an analytical grid to conclude that consequentialism has gained relevance in recent years due to the Supreme Federal Court comparing with taxpayers’ constitutional tax principles.