Impactos econômicos e sociais da desoneração da folha de pagamento no Brasil

Abstract

Social Security is a system that aims to offer protection to workers at different stages of life and is established by the Federal Constitution of Brazil. Today, there is a discussion about the excessive weight of labor charges on payroll and its impact on competitiveness and employment levels. Thus, this paper aims to discuss the payroll tax relief in Brazil and investigate its direct impacts on the labor market and the economy. Methodologically, a theoretical review and exploratory descriptive and field research were carried out with a recorded and transcribed interview with the director of the human resources department of an accounting firm. The results indicate that the Payroll Tax Relief brought significant benefits to specific sectors; in times of crisis, the measure helped to preserve jobs and avoid bankruptcies. However, although the tax relief has been vital for many companies, its long-term sustainability has always been questionable, since during its validity the government did not reach a consensus on how to reconcile tax relief for companies with the need to finance Social Security. Therefore, payroll tax relief was a useful tool in a specific context, but its effectiveness was limited by design and implementation flaws.