Financing and Public Services in Belo Horizonte

Abstract

Fiscal centralization and decentralization guide Brazilian political life like systolic and diastolic movements. The country’s federation rose as a result of the dismemberment of the unitary state, and not the will of its member states. Economic growth, completely uneven among the regions and concentrated mainly in São Paulo, made it necessary to distribute taxation powers in a differentiated manner. The federation was born decentralized and underwent a centralization process during the years of the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas, which opened a door to industrialization.