Os Incentivos Tributários na Zona Franca de Manaus e o Desequilíbrio Concorrencial no Setor de Refrigerantes

Abstract

This paper aims to examine key aspects of competition imbalance in the beverage industry, especially in the manufacturing of soft drinks, due to tax incentives offered in the Free Economic Zone of Manaus. Thus, it will be considered the social and economic conditions which have been the basis for creating the ZFM, their legal aspects for its maintenance as a Free Trade Area and the specific consequences of the acquisition of IPI tax credits and other tax benefits in the manufacturing of soft drinks concentrates. Yet, for this analysis, the approach will consider principles and concepts used by Law and Economics. Although the tax incentives offered in the ZFM are legal and has constitutional recognition, especially the IPI credit on constituted tax exemptions for raw material inputs, they have been used in complex tax planning developed by large companies aiming to reduce its costs in the later taxation stages outside this area, which generates artificial gain of competitiveness and destabilizes the market competition.