The Niteroi Municipal Finance Minister (SMF) on Friday (18) 10pm is promoting “Behavioral Sciences and Payments as Tools in Municipal Tax Administration”. The virtual meeting will bring together subject matter experts such as NEXTA CEO, José Moulin; Public Policy and Government Administration Analyst for the City Council of São Paulo, Brenda Machado Fonseca; and Under Secretary of Revenue for Planning, Budget and Finance in Marica, César Augusto Barbiero. The opening table will be attended by Niterói’s Minister of Finance, Marilia Ortiz, and the Director of the Innovation Lab in Niterói (LabNit/EGG), Isabella de Jesus. The mediation will be handled by Treasury Undersecretary for Revenue Juan Rodriguez. The event will be broadcast on the Secretariat’s YouTube channel, and according to Niteroi’s Ministry of Finance, the term “nudge” is derived from the English language and has a close translation of “to draw someone’s attention”. The term is a branch of behavioral economics that aims to study and work on persuasion techniques. According to Niterói Minister of Finance, Marilia Ortiz, the tool applied in the public sector contributes to tangible transformations and even increases in revenues.

“The use of this behavioral economics tool through tax and tax administration has gained importance in recent years. Changes in the way a notice of tax delay is written, for example, leads to more predictable and positive decision-making behaviour, without limiting independence and freedom Choice for both. In other words, a collection letter written with this tool can motivate citizens to pay off their tax debt,” explains Marilia.

According to SMF Under Secretary of Revenue, Juan Rodrigues, the tax administrations of many Brazilian public entities have conducted their own studies and used alert techniques in order to better understand the local taxpayer profile and achieve better results in terms of collection, whether automatic or provoked.

“That is why it is so important to bring together qualified professionals with relevant work. The idea of ​​the virtual meeting is to share experiences in the use of Nudge techniques. With the Experience Report, it is expected to disseminate this important resource for tax administration to other public entities, as well as to improve and apply the techniques in other activities of the authorities tax and public administration in general,” concludes Juan.