THE SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL STATE AND TAXATION: THE ROLE OF TAX LAW IN REALIZING HUMAN DIGNITY IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS AND GREEN FISCAL REFORM IN BRAZIL
This symposium proposes to analyze the reconfiguration of the foundations and role of Tax Law in shaping the Socio-Environmental State, based on a constitutional reading anchored in the theory of fundamental rights and the centrality of human dignity. It starts from the premise that the evolution of the State and of fundamental rights requires moving beyond a strictly revenue-collecting tax rationality, demanding the incorporation of normative purposes oriented toward environmental protection. In this context, it is argued that the ecological dimension constitutes a constitutive element of human dignity itself, whose realization requires integrating tax law, environmental law and constitutional theory.
The symposium is structured around two lines of debate: (i) the functional reorientation of taxation as an instrument for realizing fundamental rights, with emphasis on its extrafiscal function, environmental taxes, and mechanisms for inducing the ecological transition; and (ii) the constitutional and democratic limits of this action, particularly with regard to tax justice, fiscal regressivity, and the need for coherence between fiscal policies and environmental protection. As a cross-cutting axis, a comparative analysis between Brazil and Europe is proposed, allowing for the examination of different green taxation arrangements, their normative bases, and their impacts on the realization of human rights, fostering international dialogue on tax models compatible with sustainability and human dignity.
