Lula used tax reform to nod to the evangelical bench

As a rapprochement strategy, the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) used the tax reform process in the Chamber of Deputies to make a nod to the parliamentarians of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front, known as the Evangelical Caucus. According to deputies from the front, support for the text was built in negotiations in which the Executive was open and susceptible to meeting the demands presented.

So far, most of the requests from parliamentarians on the bench revolve around tax benefits for religious temples. In this strategy, an agglutinative amendment changed parts of the Proposal for an Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) of the reform and expanded tax benefits for “religious entities”.

The somewhat generic expression generated controversy because it made it possible for any organization linked to churches – without specifying the branch, such as a radio, hospital or other different one – to also not pay taxes. Despite this, the government’s leadership endorsed the text presented by the evangelical parliamentarians.

According to Deputy Cezinha de Madureira (PSD-SP), the government opened itself up to dialogue with the bench. “He totally opened the doors and took an important step in this relationship with evangelicals”, said the deputy.