Fachin sees no urgency and leaves analysis of action against MP for repayment to Zanin

The Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Edson Fachin considered that there is no urgency to analyze the action presented by the Novo party against the provisional measure (MP) for the re-encumbrance of the payroll. The party requested that the STF suspend the effects of the proposal. With the Judiciary in recess, Fachin acts as acting president of the Court. He determined that the request must be analyzed by the original rapporteur of the case, minister Cristiano Zanin, after the recess.

Congress overturned President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) veto and validated the bill that extended the exemption until 2027. However, at the end of December, the federal government published MP 1202/2023 containing a set of actions to increase revenue, in an attempt to reach zero deficit in 2024. Among the measures is the gradual re-encumbrance of the payroll of 17 labor-intensive sectors.

On the 9th, Novo asked the Court to declare the MP unconstitutional. The party argued that a new proposal after overturning the veto is an attempt to impose an agenda. “This MP is completely flawed and cannot come into force. Congress has already analyzed and made a clear decision on the issue, whether it is agreed or not. Lula cannot govern by decree and impose his will against the Legislature as he sees fit,” said the president of Novo, Eduardo Ribeiro, in a note at the beginning of the week.

“With regard to judicial action, the urgency raised in the demand presented during the recess of this court, in this case, goes against, at least for now, at this moment, what flows, for the hypothesis of any and all provisional tax measures, from the constitutional principle of nineagesimal tax precedence”, said Fachin. The reinstatement is expected to come into force in April this year. The “noventena” principle establishes that the Union can only charge a new tax 90 days after the publication of the law that instituted or increased it.

Opposition parliamentarians and the sectors affected by the measure have been putting pressure on the president of Congress, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), to return the government’s text. If this happens, the MP would lose its validity. Pacheco has already discussed the issue with party leaders, but said he will only decide on the return after meeting with the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, the meeting is scheduled for next week.