Environmental taxation: analysis of ICMS ecológico in the state of Ceará as a potential tool for environmental preservation

Abstract

Concern about environmental preservation is not new, given the devastation affecting the entire planet. Actions to reverse this situation are essential. Through the activities of the Public Authorities to achieve the environmental constitutional precepts of 1988, environmental taxation was incorporated in Brazil as a tool to stimulate environmental preservation, since it has both a collection and incentive function, through its extrafiscality. Based on this assumption, the Ecological ICMS was created, a public policy instrument used as a tool to induce states to adopt behaviors adopted by municipalities. The main objective of this article is to verify whether this mechanism, implemented in the state of Ceará, is effective in the adoption of sustainable practices by municipalities, as measured by the Environmental Quality Index (IQM) from 2018 to 2022. To this end, the methodology applied to the research was bibliographical, looking at normative documents, a literature review on the subject and quantitative, with descriptive and inductive characteristics. It was found that the municipalities have made an effort to implement solid waste management, especially in the last two years under analysis, in order to meet the criteria of the IQM, and as a result of this commitment, it is also possible to see improvements in environmental preservation. This shows that the Ecological ICMS alone is not enough to change the scenario of natural resource degradation, but it is an important mechanism for tackling the damage caused to natural resources, wildlife and environmental preservation.