O princípio da seletividade em função da essencialidade aplicado ao imposto sobre operações relativas à circulação de mercadorias e sobre prestações de serviços de transporte interestadual e intermunicipal e de comunicação (ICMS) no fornecimento de energia elétrica e na prestação de serviços de telecomunicações

Abstract

The Federal States and the Federal District are responsible for imposing the Tax on Goods and Services (ICMS) as determined by the Brazilian Federal Constitution; however, the Magna Carta also provides that this tax may be selective due to the greater or lesser essentiality of the taxed goods and/or services. Thus, this constitutional principle, through the extrafiscal purpose, regulates the possibility of raising or lowering the tax burden, based on the tax rate, according to the greater or lesser essentiality of the good and/or service. Due to the great doctrinal and jurisprudential controversy about whether or not the supply of electricity and the provision of telecommunications services are considered essential goods and/or services, this study seeks to understand the scope of this constitutional principle as an ICMS taxation technique and the consequent dosage of the rate according to the characteristics of these goods and/or services in the national legal system