The agility of judgments at the Federal Supreme Court will reflect on increased investments in the country. According to Minister Gilmar Mendes, president of the STF, % to % of Extraordinary Appeals — those responsible for diffuse constitutionality control in the country — deal with tax matters. According to experts, this happens because the Federal Constitution goes into small details when it comes to taxes. The control of constitutionality in tax matters was the topic of Gilmar Mendes' lecture at the IX International Congress of Tax Law of Pernambuco, which took place in Porto de Galinhas, from the th to the th of September.
During the three days of lectures and debates, the excessive constitutionalization of tax matters was praised and harshly criticized by experts on the subject. For some, this increases legal security in the country. For others, it decreases. This is what former Federal Revenue Secretary Everardo Maciel thinks. According to him, what keeps investments in Brazil away is the fact that all tax matters end up in Austria Phone Numbers List the Supreme Court. Minister Gilmar Mendes , honored speaker, brought information that may confirm this thesis: according to research carried out by Minister Nelson Jobim, when he was president of the STF (-), an Extraordinary Appeal took an average of years to reach a decision of the court. In urgent matters, delay is fatal.
The slowness, then, is decreasing with the implementation of tools that free the Supreme Court from judging cases repeatedly or that are only of interest to the parties. The General Repercussion and the Binding Summary came for this purpose, said the minister.
He recognized that the two institutes are giving due importance to the Extraordinary Appeal. The action is the way in which citizens can question the constitutionality of a law, since concentrated control actions, such as ADI, ADC and ADPF, only a few institutions have the authority to use. Today, the Supreme Court can declare a law unconstitutional and make it apply in all cases.
Extraordinary Appeals are also already being awarded with the modulation of the effects of their decision, which guarantees acts already carried out and only affects future ones. For many experts, modulation is the master key to legal security. Minister Gilmar Mendes said that the first case of modulation in incidental control of constitutionality was the discussion about the number of councilors in the São Paulo municipality of Mira Estrela. The STF considered the increase in the number of councilors unconstitutional, but decreed that its decision would only have effect for the next candidacy. This is to avoid cutting councilors' mandates and casting doubt on laws approved by them.