Fiscal incentives for pesticides as an anti-health and anti-environmental policy

Abstract: Pesticides are hazardous products, and fiscal incentives for such products directly and indirectly impact public resources for health in Brazil, since these incentives encourage pesticide use. The article thus aimed to estimate the tax relief for pesticides in Brazil in 2017. The methodology included a literature search on related tax legislation, followed by estimates based on pesticide expenditures according to the latest national Agricultural Census and foreign trade data. Tax exemptions on pesticides in 2017 totaled BRL 9.8 billion (USD 3.0 billion), of which: exemptions of BRL 6.2 billion (USD 1.9 billion) on value-added tax on sales and services, BRL 1.7 billion (USD 515 million) on excise tax, BRL 1.5 billion (USD 455 million) on social tax on net corporate income, and BRL 472 million (USD 143 million) on import tax. The results show that the efficiency of pesticide use is artificially overestimated by failing to take tax exemptions into account. Thus, taxation is a potential means for reducing the demand for pesticides, mitigating negative externalities and strengthening alternative and ecologically balanced agricultural practices.

摘要：农药属于危险产品，针对此类产品的财政激励措施会直接或间接影响巴西的公共卫生资源，因为这些激励会推动农药使用。因此，本文旨在估算2017年巴西的农药税收减免规模。研究方法包括对相关税收法规开展文献调研，随后依据最新全国农业普查的农药支出数据与外贸数据进行估算。2017年巴西农药税收减免总额达98亿巴西雷亚尔（BRL），约合30亿美元（USD），其中：销售与服务增值税减免62亿巴西雷亚尔（合19亿美元），消费税减免17亿巴西雷亚尔（合5.15亿美元），企业净收入社会税减免15亿巴西雷亚尔（合4.55亿美元），进口税减免4.72亿巴西雷亚尔（合1.43亿美元）。研究结果表明，由于未将税收减免纳入考量，农药使用效率被人为高估。据此，税收政策可作为降低农药需求、缓解负外部性、推广替代性与生态平衡农业实践的潜在手段。