Abroad, reform was ‘awaited for decades’ and ‘many doubted’ – 7/9/2023 – Nelson de Sá

In the US and Europe, the approval of the tax reform in the Chamber resulted in headlines such as “takes markets to rally”, in Bloomberg, resorting to qualifications such as “historic”, in Reuters.

The home page of the Financial Times (image below) highlighted the news of the approval with a photo, followed internally by the warning that “A Senate vote is now needed to simplify one of the most complicated tax regimes in the world”.

In the Spanish El País, describing the “spectacular acceleration of negotiations [após anos de] eternal debates”, the project aims to “simplify a baroque system that punishes the poor and rewards the rich and shareholders”.

Treating the reform as “long-awaited”, the FT explains: “Latin America’s largest economy has been hampered for decades by the complexity and opacity of its tax regime. It takes a medium-sized company in Brazil 1,500 hours to prepare and pay taxes, from by far the longest time in the world, according to the World Bank. It takes a US company 175 hours.”

Registering a note in which the bank JP Morgan said that “many doubted” the approval, Reuters dispatched that “the reform, already attempted by several unsuccessful governments, is a fundamental step in Lula’s plan to boost growth”. In Bloomberg, “reform, which eluded Brazilian politicians for decades, is among the government’s priorities.”

BETWEEN USA AND CHINA, MODEST GAINS

American newspapers did not hide the low result of the visit of the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, to Beijing. In the New York Times, “China and the US, still adversaries, are talking. It’s a start.” It was like this on the previous visit of Secretary of State Antony Blinken – with the difference that he was received by Xi Jinping. In the Washington Post, “Yellen welcomes modest trade gains.”

Chinese like Pengpai Xinwen (The Paper), from Shanghai, highlighted generic statements by Yellen at a press conference on Sunday, such as describing the purpose of the visit as having been to create “willingness” to work together.

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