The issue debated was the legality of the form adopted by the municipality to readjust the urban territorial building tax (IPTU). Since 2006, the municipality of Belo Horizonte came to readjust the venal value of the municipality through Decree, which, according to Re, Minister Gilmar Mendes, contradicts the CTN, since the dispensation of law for readjustment venal would only be allowed in the case of monetary correction.
"It is creed that municipalities can not bear the tribute, only update value for monetary correction, since it does not constitute a tribute increase and does not submit the legal reserve requirement," said the minister. In the case analyzed, the municipality of Belo Horizonte would have increased by 50% the basis for calculating the tribute - the venal value of the property - between 2005 and 2006.
In the judgment of the case, Minister Luis Roberto Barroso accompanied the vote given by Gilmar Mendes. However, he pointed out that his understanding would apply only to the concrete case, since said decree changed a law that fixed the IPTU calculation basis. "It would not properly be a case of legal reserve, but preferably of law," he observed.
Barroso still pointed out that the current format of IPTU's readjustment engresses the municipality, which is at the mercy of the City Council, which by populism or animosity often maintains the tax lagged. "Perhaps in another opportunity would be a chance to argue if, by means of legislation with objective and controllable parameters, it is possible to readjust the tribute beyond the monetary correction," Barroso said.
