Basic food basket can be more expensive with tribute to finance infrastructure

In addition to exports, the basic basket can also be affected by the contribution on primary and semi-finished products – the “surprise tax” included at the last minute by the Chamber of Deputies in the PEC of the tax reform.

Provided for in article 20 of the PEC of the tax reform approved by the Chamber, the contribution – if also approved by the Senate – may be collected by the states until 2043 to finance infrastructure.

Eurico de Santi, coordinator of the Nucleus of Tax Studies at FGV Direito SP and director of the Center for Fiscal Citizenship, observes that the basic food basket consists of primary and semi-finished products, which may be the target of the new contribution.

Another point of the PEC seeks precisely to prevent an increase in taxation on the basic food basket, by establishing that it is exempt from the future Value Added Tax (VAT).

“Measure [nova contribuição] it would harm agribusiness, precisely one of the sectors that most actively participated in the negotiations”, says coordinator De Santi.