Tax on movement of goods and services - environmental icms How to encourage the improvement of environmental public Policy at the municipal level: a test case in the city of recife, Pernambuco

The increase of human pressures on the environment in Pernambuco and the lack of action in thepublic sector to minimize them are causing negative effects on the population, for example, theabsence of legally preserved areas and adequate treatment system and disposal of solid waste. Giventhis, it is necessary that the public sector is encouraged to develop a good management structure to beformulated and implemented environmental policies. Accordingly, through the Tax on Goods and Services - ICMS Environmental, an economic instrument toward this purpose, it is expected that theCity is encouraged to improve their environmental policies, promoting the creation of protected areasand systems of adequate treatment and disposal of solid waste. In this sense, to assess whether thisinstrument is achieving these goals is to draw up a semi-structured questionnaire, addressed to theHead of Information Division Municipal Camaragibe, an interview was conducted with the responsiblefor the calculations of the ICMS Environmental Secretary of the State of Pernambuco, and analysiswere made of funds received from the Environmental ICMS in the period between 2005 and 2006,comparing them with spending on environmental management function. At the end it was observedthat this instrument is not encouraging to significantly Camaragibe to seek solutions to the problems,recommending the adoption of qualitative assessments for the criterion of "protected areas" andinclude this feature in the Municipal Fund Environment.