THE TAX PARADOX OF BETTING: BETWEEN REVENUE EFFICIENCY AND MITIGATING SOCIAL HARM IN BRAZIL

Abstract

This article analyzes the regulatory framework for betting in Brazil, established by Law No. 14.790/2023, through the perspective of Paulo Barros de Carvalho's Logic-Semantic Constructivism. It investigates the tension between the State's revenue-seeking goals and the extrafiscal function of taxation as an instrument for social protection. The research demonstrates that the legal trajectory of gambling has oscillated between moral prohibition and economic pragmatism, resulting in a regulation that, while seeking state sovereignty, remains overly permissive in the face of severe negative externalities. The study concludes that the current fiscal architecture fails to effectively modulate behavior, proposing a reform to ensure that extrafiscality effectively preserves social welfare.