Trabalho e tributação : os encargos sociais sobre a folha de salários no Brasil

Abstract

In Brazil, company payrolls suffer a considerable incidence of taxes and constitute the second largest tax collection base in the country, being fundamental for financing public social security. However, high taxes on this basis have implications for job creation, as they increase labor costs. In this sense, this research's central objective is to examine the tax structure on the payroll and its relationship with the labor market in Brazil. To this end, bibliographic and documentary review is used as a methodology. This is an exploratory study with a qualitative-quantitative approach. In the analyses, it was observed that companies included in the real profit tax regime suffer a tax incidence of 35.8% on their payroll and are responsible for almost 50% of formal employment contracts in the country; However, this tax incidence is much lower if the company opts for Simples Nacional or has an exempt payroll. Tax differentials can distort firms' decisions, bringing implications for the way business is organized. Furthermore, payroll taxes represented almost 20% of tax revenue during the study period (2010 to 2020), and almost 6% of GDP. It was also noted that Brazil has a significant informal sector. The registered informality rate reached almost 40% and the number of workers who do not collect anything for social security is equivalent, on average, to 35.6% of the employed workforce. It is noteworthy that technological innovations and new forms of work organization in progress tend to increase the informality situation. In conclusion, Brazil needs a review of the current payrollbased taxation model that encourages the formalization of employment, preserves the financing of social security and other important social benefits for workers.