Os princípios e a construção da norma jurídica tributária

Abstract

This study aims at examining the role principles play in the activity of the interpreter of the rule of law construction (especially the matrix-rule of tax incidence, RMIT) within the limits of Brazillian Law´s Democratic State, instituted by a steering and social Constitution whose principles establish a commitment to eradicate poverty and minimize social inequality. The major objective, based on premises set by the commonly called linguistic turn and philosophical hermeneutics , is to analyze the ability that principles have of, in the above mentioned process of composing the rule, rendering the constitutional tax law viable. It is thus justified because it may contribute to the study of the function that principles fulfill in the process of creating a tax law, as well as to a better understanding of how such participation works, always aiming at achieving real tax justice. The theme is developed within the scope of the three language dimensions: syntactics, semantics and pragmatics, based on the relating literature and jurisprudence, and addresses the following topics: i linguistic construction of reality by means of interpretation; ii the idea of law as a communication system (of language) composed of principles and rules (normative language) that build up its repertoire; iii the RMIT s structure; iv the structure of principles and their function, jointly with rules (both legal norms lato sensu), in constituting the legal norm stricto sensu; v the general constitutional principles and tax constitutional principles in their capacity of establishing objective limits ; vi the interpretation of law from the standpoint of premises established by the linguistic turn and by Heidegger s and Gadamer s philosophical hermeneutics and its application in the scope of Brazilian Law s Democratic State; vii the proposal of interpreting law as a language system, devised by Paulo de Barros Carvalho; viii the law interpreter/enforcer activity and the path treaded thereby for creating the RMIT, with a focus on the participation and influence of tax constitutional principles in this process. The study points out the need to effectively replace juspositivism with (neo) constitutionalism, and hermeneutics with philosophical hermeneutics, with the ensuing acknowledgement of principles as determinants of the activity of creating any legal norm. Under Brazilian Law´s Democratic State instituted by the Constitution of 1988 there is no room for the mechanical application of rules. Constitutional principles must, therefore, be part of the RMIT construction, determining the meaning of the rules that state its criteria (material, temporal, spatial etc.) for the effective concretization of tax constitutional justice and sothat (tax) law fulfills its function as an agent of social change