Abstract

The Ecological ICMS consists of the resizing, according to environmental criteria, of part of the monetary transfers of the ICMS (State Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services) belonging to municipalities. The policy’s objective is to compensate and incentivize environmentally beneficial actions. It was introduced in Pará with the explicit purpose of contributing to the reduction of high rates of deforestation through the promotion of municipal action. This study intends to verify if the initial redistributive effects operated by the policy occurred in coherence with its intended purpose. It analyses the destination of resources received due to the policy, municipal expenditures with environmental management, and municipal territorial power to understand the impact of introducing the environmental criteria on municipalities with high rates of deforestation, which are included in the List of Priority Municipalities of the Ministry of Environment. The analysis indicates that the priority municipalities benefited from the introduction of the Ecological ICMS in the State, without increasing its participation in the fight against deforestation. It was concluded that there was some inconsistency between the redistributive effects operated by ICMS Ecological in Pará and the objective of reducing deforestation, as well as the policy’s theoretical basis.

Keywords
Ecological ICMS; priority municipalities; environmental management; deforestation; Amazon Forest