(Non-)compliance with Public Finance
Laws, Sustainability and Social
Responsibility: A Critical Analysis
of the Use of Mining Taxation in Canaã
dos Carajás (Pará, Brazil)
Thiago Leite Cruz
1 Introduction
Governments, industries and universities are increasingly engaging with policies,
practices and studies that promote social, environmental and economic justice. Such
trends reflect the emergence of the Sustainable Development paradigm, a complex
and multifactorial concept that is not limited to environmental issues, but rather
should involve social and economic dimensions as well, especially in industrial activities such as mining, which has substantial impacts (Leff 2009; Prno and Slocombe
2012).
Solow (1991) analyzed different attempts to conceptualize and deal with sustainability. As an Economist, Solow (1991) came to a pragmatic conclusion, stressing that
Sustainability should not imply the absolute non-use of resources to maintain their
integrity throughout generations. Rather, sustainability should promote the rational
use of resources to address our current needs, while generating long lasting benefits
and alternate resources to the future generations, so the use and depletion of specific
resources in the present should not harm their survival and wellbeing.
In fact, Solow (1991, 1991) indicates it is not desirable—or even possible—to
leave some resources untouched, such as metals and ores which are crucial for some
nations and businesses. In Brazil, mining production had a share of 4.69% on GDP
in 2017, totaling over US$300 billion; and in 2018 the country exported US$49.8
billion in mineral production, equivalent to 20.8% of total exports (MME 2019).
Silva et al. (2014) and Cruz et al. (2020) indicate that Brazilian mining industry
generates thousands of jobs, improves urban infrastructure and contributes to improve
quality education and construct health facilities. Nevertheless, such industry is often
T. L. Cruz (B)
Faculdade de Direito, Universidade Federal do Pará, Rua Augusto Corrêa, 01 – Guamá, Belém,
PA, Brasil
e-mail: thiago.james@live.com
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Integrating Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development,
World Sustainability Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59975-1_11
167
Laws, Sustainability and Social
Responsibility: A Critical Analysis
of the Use of Mining Taxation in Canaã
dos Carajás (Pará, Brazil)
Thiago Leite Cruz
1 Introduction
Governments, industries and universities are increasingly engaging with policies,
practices and studies that promote social, environmental and economic justice. Such
trends reflect the emergence of the Sustainable Development paradigm, a complex
and multifactorial concept that is not limited to environmental issues, but rather
should involve social and economic dimensions as well, especially in industrial activities such as mining, which has substantial impacts (Leff 2009; Prno and Slocombe
2012).
Solow (1991) analyzed different attempts to conceptualize and deal with sustainability. As an Economist, Solow (1991) came to a pragmatic conclusion, stressing that
Sustainability should not imply the absolute non-use of resources to maintain their
integrity throughout generations. Rather, sustainability should promote the rational
use of resources to address our current needs, while generating long lasting benefits
and alternate resources to the future generations, so the use and depletion of specific
resources in the present should not harm their survival and wellbeing.
In fact, Solow (1991, 1991) indicates it is not desirable—or even possible—to
leave some resources untouched, such as metals and ores which are crucial for some
nations and businesses. In Brazil, mining production had a share of 4.69% on GDP
in 2017, totaling over US$300 billion; and in 2018 the country exported US$49.8
billion in mineral production, equivalent to 20.8% of total exports (MME 2019).
Silva et al. (2014) and Cruz et al. (2020) indicate that Brazilian mining industry
generates thousands of jobs, improves urban infrastructure and contributes to improve
quality education and construct health facilities. Nevertheless, such industry is often
T. L. Cruz (B)
Faculdade de Direito, Universidade Federal do Pará, Rua Augusto Corrêa, 01 – Guamá, Belém,
PA, Brasil
e-mail: thiago.james@live.com
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Integrating Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development,
World Sustainability Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59975-1_11
167