FISCAL MANAGEMENT AND EQUITY

A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF ICMS EDUCATION IN BRAZIL

Abstract

This is an analysis of the ICMS Education, adopted nationally by Constitutional Amendment nº 108/2020. The objective was to analyze the role of fiscal management, in conjunction with Education, as an inducer of equity, considering the socioeconomic level of students. A qualitative analysis was carried out, with a survey of state legislation, content analysis, followed by discourse analysis, aiming to identify how the states constituted metrics for the distribution of ICMS Education. The results indicate that, in a scenario of semantic uncertainties and technical incipience, 25 states approved specific legislation, as a rule, with indicators that express a restrictive interpretation of equity, with a risk of the mechanism being ineffective or generating effects contrary to those desired. The mechanism is being implemented in the states' distribution systems, and there is still time for improvements, which require the mobilization of fiscal and social knowledge and federative dialogue, to ensure a balance between the fiscal sustainability of municipalities and social development towards equity.