A questão tributária para os clássicos

As inovagdes conceituais oriundas do advento da economia politico cldssica tiveramimpacto sobre a analise das finangas publicas, ao aumenfar o escopo das quesfbeslevantadas e ao permifir a realizagdo de uma rica analise da incidencia dos imposfos,baseada no discussdo dos determinantes dos rendimentos na economia. Acomparagao entre os estudos de finangas publicas de Petty e Smith permite verificaressa assertive. A identificagdo do lucro como rendimento-chave da economia, aclareza na associagdo de riqueza com mercadorios e a visdo liberal do comercioexterno enriquecem a analise de Smith sobre a acumulagdo de capital, produtividadedos impostos e impacto destes sobre comercio exterior. As divergencies teoricas entreRicardo e Smith elucidam as conclusbes distintas dos autores, notadamente nadiscussdo do impacto dos impostos sobre pregos relatives, sobre a acumulagdo decapital e sobre o comercio exterior.The conceptual innovations brought about by the classical political economy wereimportant to public finance analysis. They allowed the formulation of a large range ofquestions and a richer analysis of tax incidence, based on the theory of the incomedeterminants. Comparision between Petty and Smith can prove this statement. Theidentification of profit as the key type of income of the economy, the identification ofgoods with wealth, and the liberal vision about foreign trade enriched Smith's analysis oncapital acumulation, tax productivity and their impact on foreign trade. The theoreticaldivergences between Smith and Ricardo were the source of their different conclusionsabout the effects of taxes on relative prices, on capital accumulation and on foreigntrade