Simples Nacional no Brasil: o difícil balanço entre estímulos às pequenas empresas e aos gastos tributários [Simples Nacional in Brazil: the difficult balance between small businesses stimuli and tax expenditures]

Brazilian small- and micro-enterprises (SMEs) have high representation in the Brazilian economy, especially in regard to providing employment. This is a significant group with a number of singularities with respect to taxation. Due to the fact that they are small, they may incur greater economic costs than larger companies. Accordingly, many countries have sought to establish specific mechanisms to support SMEs. Brazil's Simples Nacional granted a series of tax benefits and administrative simplifications to small- and micro- enterprises. The revenues collected from the Simples Nacional grew at rates well above that of all other taxes, and was three times higher than the real growth rate of the entire revenue collection. The amount collected per SME increased significantly during the period of the Simples Nacional, corroborating the evidence that there was strong growth among companies opting for the new regime. The growth in revenue collection brought an offsetting increase in tax expenditures, which grew at even higher rates than the increase in revenues.