Haddad announces group to discuss social security exemption for religious people

This Friday morning (19), the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, met with leaders of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front (FPE) and members of the Federal Revenue Service to debate the act published by the body this Wednesday (17), which suspended a previous measure that differentiated the amount received by religious leaders under the so-called “pastoral prebend” and direct remuneration.

In practice, with the change, part of the amounts paid to priests and pastors that were previously exempt from social security contributions could now be taxed. The measure does not interfere, however, with the payment of Income Tax by religious leaders, which is taxed normally.

The measure generated a series of criticisms from the evangelical group, which pointed out the government’s persecution of Christians, which motivated the meeting of evangelical leaders with Haddad. After the meeting, the minister announced that a working group would be created with members of the Federal Audit Court (TCU) and the Federal Attorney General’s Office (AGU) to “settle controversies” regarding the interpretation of the law.

According to laws 8,212/91 and 10,170/2000, the financial remuneration granted for dedication to the pastoral ministry is not considered direct remuneration and, therefore, is exempt from social security contributions; in other words, there is no incidence of 20% of the value referring to INSS.

In July 2022, the IRS technical team published an act that expanded this exemption from the INSS employer quota to, in addition to the prebend, cover indirect benefits to religious leaders “based on criteria such as seniority at the institution, level of education , irreducibility of values, number of dependents, hierarchical position and location of domicile”, according to the terms of the act. This measure was annulled this Wednesday, with a new act from the Revenue.

“We suspended the act [de 2022] and we established a working group to interact with both the AGU, in the person of minister Jorge Messias, and with the TCU, to understand how to interpret the law that was approved by Congress so as not to create problems for public servants at the Revenue, who they obviously want to comply with the law, neither to harm or benefit anyone,” Haddad told reporters after the meeting.

“As there are doubts regarding the interpretation, we will move in this direction to establish the definitive interpretation. Then the auditor complies with what the law says”, continued the minister. Haddad said that there was no revocation or validation of the previous criteria, but rather a “suspension to understand what the law says and comply with the law”.

Magno Malta criticizes evangelical leaders’ request to discuss changes with the government

This Thursday (18), the leader of the evangelical bench in the Senate, senator Carlos Viana (Podemos-MG), reported that he spoke with Fernando Haddad about the Federal Revenue’s decision and said that the formation of the working group was aligned “to evaluate and define all necessary measures to maintain the exemption of churches”.

The interlocution was questioned by senator Magno Malta (PL-ES), who is also a member of the bench. For Malta, the request represents “kissing the hand” of members of the government. He also stated that other important members of the parliamentary front – such as Senator Damares Alves (Republicanos-DF), Senator Jorge Seif (PL-SC) and Senator Marcos Rogério (PL-RO) – were not consulted about and do not agree with announced meetings.

“Tax exemption for churches is a right provided for in the Constitution, which also extends to unions and political parties. This is not a favor from the government, but a constitutional right. I respect Senator Carlos Vianna, but this issue goes beyond everyday politics. Pastors are not obliged to kiss the hand of Haddad, Lula or Rui Costa. Our fight is different”, declared Magno Malta.

The senator also said that in conversation with Damares, Seif and Rogério, they all agreed that “this whole situation involving religious leaders is one more action among many others that show that the Lula government does not dialogue or have respect for Christians. He is fulfilling a campaign promise. ‘Put pastors in their place,’” he said.