{"id":607,"date":"2025-04-30T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/?p=607"},"modified":"2025-04-29T00:37:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T00:37:23","slug":"o-mercado-criminal-como-o-estado-estimula-a-ilegalidade-com-impostos-e-proibicoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/o-mercado-criminal-como-o-estado-estimula-a-ilegalidade-com-impostos-e-proibicoes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Criminal Market: How the State Encourages Illegality with Taxes and Prohibitions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to organized crime and illegal markets, it&#039;s common to point the finger at drug traffickers, smugglers, and counterfeiters.<br>Few realize, however, that much of this underground market arises not from people&#039;s criminal natures \u2014 but from distortions imposed by the state itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With abusive taxes, impossible regulations, and moral prohibitions, the State creates an environment where illegality becomes not only attractive\u2014but inevitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Abusive taxes: the factory of informality and smuggling<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When the government excessively taxes products such as cigarettes, electronics, or beverages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It raises prices above the real purchasing power of the majority of the population.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Creates a <strong>economic prize<\/strong> for those who can trick the system and sell cheaper.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Practical example:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In S\u00e3o Paulo, almost <strong>60% of cigarettes sold<\/strong> come from the illegal market, according to the Brazilian Association to Combat Smuggling.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the electronics sector, cell phones and video game consoles are constant targets of smuggling due to high import tariffs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Obvious conclusion:<\/strong><br>The higher the tax, the greater the incentive to evade it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Moral prohibitions: the fuel of organized crime<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When the state prohibits certain goods (drugs, weapons, unlicensed software), it does not eliminate demand.<br>He just delivers the supply to <strong>illegal organizations<\/strong>, which:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They operate without contractual guarantees, replacing negotiation with violence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They finance corruption networks, militias and cartels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Historical example:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>THE <strong>Prohibition in the USA (1920\u20131933)<\/strong> banned the sale of alcohol.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Result: explosive growth of organized crime, led by mobsters like Al Capone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Repression creates violent monopolies.<br>Freedom, when it exists, is regulated by the market itself and by competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>State and crime: an invisible symbiosis<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The paradox is cruel:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The State creates the illegal market with its irrational laws.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The State increases its power and budget claiming the need to combat the crime it itself encouraged.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>More repression, more violence, more budget \u2014 and the cycle feeds on itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, organized crime is not an aberration of the market.<br>It is a product of state intervention <strong>against<\/strong> the free market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The logic of the market versus the logic of coercion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the free market:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Exchanges are voluntary.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Profit depends on customer satisfaction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Competition penalizes poor providers and rewards the best.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In the illegal market created by the State:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The exchange is made under threat.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Profit depends on violence and corruption.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Monopoly is guaranteed by the physical elimination of competitors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The difference between a legal market and a criminal market is often just the legislator&#039;s signature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion: less prohibition, more freedom<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Truly fighting organized crime is not a matter of increasing repression.<br>It&#039;s a matter of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Reduce taxes that turn common products into luxury items.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Legalizing and regulating products whose prohibition only fuels violent networks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Restore the logic of the free market, where the one who offers the best wins, not the one who kills the most.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Where the State imposes coercion, violence arises.<br>Where the market offers choice, prosperity is born.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83d\udce9 Do you want to understand how state interventionism destroys freedom and encourages violence?<br><strong>Subscribe to the Economic Radar newsletter<\/strong> and receive critical analysis in your email.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tributos abusivos e proibi\u00e7\u00f5es estatais n\u00e3o eliminam a demanda \u2014 apenas alimentam o mercado ilegal e fortalecem o crime organizado. Entenda como o intervencionismo estatal transforma trocas volunt\u00e1rias em monop\u00f3lios de viol\u00eancia.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow55rbCw:productID":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[497,495,355,494,498,106,98,492,493,496],"class_list":["post-607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analise-economica","tag-coercao-estatal","tag-contrabando","tag-estado-e-mercado","tag-impostos-abusivos","tag-informalidade","tag-intervencao-estatal","tag-liberdade-economica","tag-mercado-ilegal","tag-proibicao-e-crime-organizado","tag-proibicao-e-violencia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}