Composition of working group on tax reform causes dispute in the Chamber

The working group created to analyze the tax reform proposal being discussed in the Chamber of Deputies provoked a dispute in the Plenary. The President of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), formalized and announced the members of the collegiate this Wednesday (15). Novo parliamentarians questioned the composition of the collegiate and asked for the creation of a special commission, with a larger number of members and proportional participation of parliamentarians from all regions.

Marcel van Hattem (Novo-RS) claimed that Amazonas is over-represented in the group, unlike the states in the southern region. “Two percent of the entire Chamber of Deputies is being asked to compose a working group. And worse: completely unbalanced in regional terms. Three deputies from the state of Amazonas. None from Rio Grande do Sul, none from Paraná, none from Santa Catarina. Now, if the deputies from Amazonas who will be there make a proposal to make the Manaus Free Zone a free zone in Brazil, then we could agree or at least start the discussion”, said Marcel van Hattem.

Deputy Captain Alberto Neto (PL-AM) defended the presence of Amazonian deputies in the group and the free zone incentives as a way to reduce regional imbalances. “We cannot compare the north of the country, which is precarious and lacks infrastructure, lacks education and lacks investment in health. We are precarious in logistics, there is no reason to want to compare with Rio Grande do Sul, with São Paulo. It is irrational this argument,” he said.

“And the Free Zone of Manaus played a great role, occupied our state, reduced regional inequality. In the free zone, we broke a record for collection. Today the state of Amazonas donates more to the federal government than it receives”, added Neto. The group’s coordinator will be deputy Reginaldo Lopes (PT-MG), and the rapporteur will be deputy Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB).

Also part of the collegiate are: Saullo Vianna (União-AM), Mauro Benevides Filho (PDT-CE), Glaustin da Fokus (PSC-GO), Newton Cardoso Jr (MDB-MG), Ivan Valente (Psol-SP), Jonas Donizette (PSB-SP), Sidney Leite (PSD-AM), Luiz Philippe de Orleans e Bragança (PL-SP), Vitor Lippi (PSDB-SP) and Adail Filho (Republicanos-AM), informed the Câmara de Notícias Agency.