Combating tax evasion and smuggling could yield BRL 120 billion, says Tebet

The Minister of Planning and Budget, Simone Tebet, said this Wednesday (19) that the fight against tax evasion and smuggling could increase revenues by R$ 120 billion starting next year. Tebet said the government could collect more if “unjustifiable” exemptions were reversed.

“We have many exemptions that are not justified, which were exempted in the pre-election period, for example. We are also in a position to fight tax evasion and smuggling, something around R$ 120 billion. This will be presented at the right time”, declared the minister as she left the launch ceremony of the process of elaborating the Participatory Pluriannual Plan (PPA Participativo), reported Agência Brasil.

According to Tebet, public accounts are out of balance due to increased spending and exemptions decided by the last government in the months prior to the elections. She said that the new fiscal framework, sent to Congress on Tuesday (18), is not focused on raising expenses, but on revising public spending.

“Public accounts are out of balance, because we have a deficit of BRL 231 billion, the result of four years [do governo anterior], when public policies were also paralyzed. Contrary to what many say, the framework does not look at the revenue side, it looks at the side of cuts and the adjustment of public spending. We have goals to meet,” he said.