TAX IMPOSITIONS AND RELIGION IN BRAZIL: HISTORICAL, NORMATIVE, DOCTRINAL AND FORENSIC ASPECTS

Abstract

The paper intends to summarize the historical, normative, doctrinal and forensic aspects of the religious fiscal immunity in the context of the Brazilian legal history. It reveals a tradition that protects Catholicism, which prevailed in the Ordenações Filipinas, as well as in the constitutional text of 1824. It identifies the framework adopted by the other Brazilian constitutions, especially after 1946. It observes that the fiscal immunity applied to the temples of any cult is a fundamental right. It does summarize the legal opinions on the matter, pointing its central problems, suggesting, in the end, the application of the favor to some other fiscal impositions