Chamber approves exemption of diesel and gas in 2023 – 04/25/2023 – Market

The plenary of the Chamber of Deputies approved this Tuesday (25) an MP (provisional measure) edited in the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government that incorporates different proposals sent by the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). Among them, the one that extends until the end of the year the exemption of federal taxes on diesel, biodiesel and cooking gas.

The text on fuels and others of interest to the government were grouped together because of the impasse between the Chamber and the Senate over the procedure for processing the proposals. With the dispute, there was the fear that they might not be approved.

Excerpts from the different MPs were brought together in the text that changes the law of Perse (Emergency Program for the Resumption of the Events Sector) and that offers benefits to airlines and the entertainment segment. According to the rapporteur, the text generates a tax waiver of BRL 4.3 billion per year for the Union.

The processing of this proposal is closely monitored by airlines, which seek to maintain the tax reduction in the face of escalating fuel costs since the beginning of the Ukrainian War.

Forwarded to Congress by then President Bolsonaro in December 2022, the text on Perse was reported by the leader of the government in the Chamber, José Guimarães (PT-CE), and discussed at a meeting of the college of leaders earlier this Tuesday.

The matter was voted symbolically –that is, without computing individual votes– and will go to the Senate. It was approved after weeks of discussions between leaders of the Chamber and the Ministry of Finance in an attempt to hammer out an agreement.

Deputies closed an agreement to restrict the number of activities contemplated by Perse in the MP.

The original MP resets for five years, starting in 2021, PIS/Pasep and Cofins of companies in the event sector applied on revenues and results of activities in the segment.

In addition, it establishes a zero rate of these taxes for the air transport sector for passengers from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2026.

Now, the proposal approved by the Chamber restricts the number of activities linked to events that can be contemplated with the benefit (according to those involved in the discussions, companies were using loopholes in the measure to obtain the benefits). According to Guimarães, this measure will reduce the legal uncertainty of the matter.

In plenary, the petista also stated that the MP generates a waiver of BRL 4.3 billion per year. “The program has an impact, yes. It is not a very big impact, but it is an impact. Do you know how much per year? Around R$ 4.3 billion. Therefore, we are not recharging anything. In conclusion, the government loses revenue because is responding to the appeal of a program that was important and that will encourage tourism in Brazil.”

The text also included MP 1,159, for the exclusion of ICMS from the calculation basis of credits for the contribution to PIS/Pasesp and Cofins, and the reissue of the special tax regularization program for Santas Casas (so that institutions can renegotiate their debts) .

The Chamber also incorporated into the approved text a suggestion by Deputy Felipe Carreras (PE), leader of the PSB, which changes the remuneration rate of resources from the Worker Support Fund to the BNDES for financing innovation and digitization.

As shown by SheetBNDES management had suggested to the Ministry of Finance the use of different remuneration rates so as not to be tied to the TLP (Long-Term Rate).

Finally, the text also included the allocation of 5% of the resources collected by Sesc and Senac to Embratur “which should be used in the funding and international promotion of tourism in Brazil, without promoting any increase in the tax burden”.