Democracy, fundamental rights and public finance: a constitutionalist criticism of the Steuerle-Roeper Index
| Autor | Francisco Mata Machado Tavares |
| Cargo | Professor adjunto na Universidade Federal de Goiás (Goiânia-GO, Brasil). Docente permanente do Programa de Pós-graduação em Direitos Humanos (mestrado e doutorado) |
| Páginas | 161-183 |
Licenciado sob uma Licença Creative Commons
Licensed under Creative Commons
Rev. Investig. Const., Curitiba, vol. 8, n. 1, p. 161-183, jan./abr. 2021.
Democracy, fundamental rights and public nance: a
constitutionalist criticism of the Steuerle-Roeper Index
Democracia, direitos fundamentais e nanças públicas: uma
crítica constitucionalista ao índice Steuerle-Roeper
FRANCISCO MATA MACHADO TAVARES I, *
I Universidade Federal de Goiás (Goiânia, Goiás, Brasil)
franciscotavares@ufg.br
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3905-8141
Recebido/Received: 09.04.2020 / April 09th, 2020
Aprovado/Approved: 22.10.2020 / October 22th, 2020
Revista de Investigações Constitucionais
ISSN 2359-5639
DOI: 10.5380/rinc.v8i1.72768
161
Como citar esse artigo/How to cite this article: TAVARES, Francisco Mata Machado. Democracy, fundamental rights and public
nance: a constitutionalist criticism of the Steuerle-Roeper Index. Revista de Investigações Constitucionais, Curitiba, vol. 8,
n. 1, p. 161-183, jan./abr. 2021. DOI: 10.5380/rinc.v8i1.72768.
* Professor adjunto na Universidade Federal de Goiás (Goiânia-GO, Brasil). Docente permanente do Programa de Pós-gradua-
ção em Direitos Humanos (mestrado e doutorado). Doutor em Ciências Políticas pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
E-mail: franciscotavares@ufg.br.
Abstract
The article proposes to critically discuss the concept of
scal democracy as operationalized by the means of the
Steuerle-Roeper Index. It is assumed that the contempo-
rary sociohistorical context comprises a scenario of crisis
or decline of democracies, largely explained by the s-
cal diculties faced by the States. The Fiscal Democracy
Index is discussed as a promising scientic contribution
for the attribution of empirical tangibility to such a re-
ality. However, a diculty is identied concerning the
non-consideration of fundamental rights as condition for
the possibility of democratic politics. Finally, an example
from the Brazilian constitutional system is presented in
order to illustrate the article´s theoretical argument.
Keywords: fundamental rights; scal democracy; scal
rigidity; Steuerle-Roeper Index; crítica constitucionalista.
Resumo
O artigo propõe-se a discutir criticamente o conceito de
democracia scal, tal como operacionalizado por meio do
Índice Steuerle-Roeper. Assume-se que o contexto sócio-
-histórico contemporâneo compreende um cenário de crise
ou declínio das democracias, amplamente explicado pelas
diculdades scais enfrentadas pelos Estados. O Índice de
Democracia Fiscal é discutido como uma contribuição cien-
tíca promissora para a atribuição de tangibilidade empíri-
ca a esta realidade. Contudo, identica-se uma diculdade,
concernente à não consideração dos direitos fundamentais
como condições de possibilidade da política democrática.
Finalmente, um exemplo proveniente do sistema constitu-
cional brasileiro é apresentado para ns de ilustrar o argu-
mento teórico do artigo.
Palavras-chave: direitos fundamentais; democracia s-
cal; rigidez scal; Índice Steuerle-Roeper; constitutionalist
criticism.
FRANCISCO MATA MACHADO TAVARES
Rev. Investig. Const., Curitiba, vol. 8, n. 1, p. 161-183, jan./abr. 2021.
162
CONTENTS
1. Introduction; 2. The Fiscal Dimension of Democracy and Fundamental Rights; 3. Democracy in Num-
bers: Potentials of the Fiscal Democracy Index in the “Age of Austerity”; 4. The Steuerle-Roeper Index
Diculties under a Constitutionalist Look: About the Nexus Between Constitutional and Budgetary Ri-
gidity; 5. Fiscal Rigidity, Democracy and Fundamental Rights in the Brazilian Legal System: The Case of
Social Security; 6. Conclusion; 7. References.
1. INTRODUCTION
Social conict over public nances is central to the sociogenesis of the modern
State1. Thus, the construction of bridges between the theory of fundamental rights and
democratic theory, from the socio-scal perspective2, is promising for both subdisci-
plines. Moved by this spirit, this article critically discusses an increasingly inuential
concept in contemporary political theory, in the light of conceptions shared by liberal
and deliberationist streams of constitutional and democratic theory regarding the nor-
mative restraint of political-decision-making processes. The argument that is intended
is that, contrary to what is shown in the literature associated with the concept of scal
democracy3, the constitutional rules that establish forms of budgetary rigidity do not
necessarily imply the mitigation of democratic political processes. More specically, the
theoretical problem to be solved is formulated in the following question: are the theo-
retical bases of the notion of scal democracy and the index that algebraically operatio-
nalizes it compatible with the relationship between democracy and law inscribed in the
liberal and deliberationist streams of contemporary constitutionalism?
To clarify this question, the second section, presented bellow, indicates how de-
mocratic theory and contemporary constitutionalism are anchored in the public nance
1 See: SCHUMPETER, J. The Crisis of the Tax State. In: SWEDBERG, R. (Org.). Joseph A. Schumpeter: The Eco-
nomics and Sociology of Capitalism Princeton: Princeton UP, 1991, p. 99 – 140; GOLDSCHEID, Rudolf. A Socio-
logical Approach to Problems of Public Finance. In: MUSGRAVE, Richard; PEACOCK, Alan T (Org.). Classics in
the Theory of Public Finance. London: MacMillan, 1958, p. 202-213; HOFFMAN, Phillip T; NORBERG, Kathryn
Norberg. Fiscal Crises, Liberty and Representative Government: 1450-1789. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1994, p.
1-7; TILLY, Charles. State, Taxes and Proletarians. CRSO Working Papers, [s.l.], vol. 213, 1980, p. 17-22. Disponí-
vel em: https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/50987/213.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y;
ELIAS, Norbert. The Civilizing Process: Sociogenetic and Psychogenetic Investigations. Malden: Blackwell
Publishing, 2000, p.344-362; MARTIN, Isaac Willian; MHEROTRA. Ajay K; PRASAD; Monica. The Thunder of His-
tory. In: MARTIN, Isaac Willian; MHEROTRA. Ajay K; PRASAD; Monica (Org.). The New Fiscal Sociology: Taxation
in Comparative and Historical Perspective. New York: Cambridge UP, 2009, p. 1-28.
2 BACKHAUS, Jürgen G. Fiscal Sociology: What for? In: BACKHAUS, Jürgen G.; WAGNER, Richard E (Org.).
Handbook of Public Finance. London: Springer, 2002. p. 521-542.
3 STEUERLE, Eugene. Restoring Fiscal Democracy. The Milken Institute Review, 1st Quarter, 2016, p. 26-35.
Disponível em: https://www.urban.org/sites/default/les/publication/80326/2000781-Restoring-Fiscal-Demo-
cracy.pdf. Acesso em: 10 de julho de 2017. STREECK, Wolfgang; MERTENS, Daniel. An Index of Fiscal Democracy,
MPIFG Working Paper, [s.l.], vol. 10, n. 03, abr. 2010, p. 6-8. Available at: https://www.mpifg.de/pu/workpap/
wp10-3.pdf; GENSCHEL, Philipp; SCHWARZ, Peter. Tax Competition and Fiscal Democracy. In: STREECK, W;
SCHÄFER, A. (Org.). Politics in the Age of Austerity. Cambridge: Polity, 2013, p. 59-83. p. 59-83.
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