LIBERDADE OU PRISÃO? DO BRASIL COLÔNIA AO REAL DIGITAL: Um ensaio sobre tributação, tecnologia, controle social, liberdade e privacidade dos contribuintes

Abstract

This Undergraduate Thesis aims primarily to critically and transdisciplinarily discuss the relationship between taxation, technology, freedom, privacy, and social control in Brazil. To that end, the following central question was posed: Is the Brazilian State the declarer and protector of taxpayers’ freedom and privacy, or rather a coercive agent and suppressor of previously guaranteed rights, exercising social control—among other means—through taxation? Adopting an essayistic and qualitative approach, the research begins with a historical analysis of Brazilian taxation from the colonial period to the present day, culminating in the imminent implementation of DREX—the Digital Real. Based on the premise that taxes, beyond their revenue-raising function, play a fundamental role in social control, the work analyzes how the State, through technological advancements, has intensified its surveillance over taxpayers, directly impacting their fundamental rights. Drawing on classical and contemporary thinkers such as Rousseau, Hobbes, Foucault, and Zuboff, the study discusses the limits of state action in a context of increasing digitalization of tax collection, questioning whether new tools like DREX will serve as instruments of freedom or mechanisms of coercion. The study also highlights the dangers of hyper-surveillance and the abuses legitimized by legislation in the name of the public interest. Finally, the research does not seek to provide definitive answers, but rather to provoke reflection on the role of the State and the risks that technology poses to freedom and privacy within the tax sphere.