Ipi (tax on manufactured products). Impossibility of increase in the rate levied on imported vehicles

Thesis: violation of article 153, §§1st and 3rd, item I, of the Federal Constitution, once the extra-fiscal function of IPI is based on the essentiality of the product (principle of selectivity); violation of article 5th, caput, of the Federal Constitution, once the rate increase implies an anti-isonomic treatment towards imported vehicles; and violation of article 98 of the Federal Tax Code, once the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) prohibits differential treatment of imports among WTO members (such as Brazil and China).

Legal Basis: the IPI rate varies accordantly to the product’s ultimate object, and not accordantly to its origin. The levy of different rates on vehicles with the same ultimate object exclusively due to their origin (national/imported) violates the principle of equality and also the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), to which Brazil is a signatory.

Case law: decisions rendered by Brazilian Superior Courts prohibiting anti-isonomic treatment on importations.