Revenue chief says Lula will sign auditor bonus – 03/08/2023 – Market

In an audio sent to a group of auditors, the Secretary of the Federal Revenue, Robinson Barreirinhas, informed, this Tuesday (7), that the decree providing for the release of the payment of efficiency bonuses to inspectors must be signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva “between today and tomorrow”.

The recording was released in a group that included the superintendents, secretaries and coordinators of the Revenue and was transmitted to entities representing the category —Unafisco and Sindifisco.

“The bonus decree is already ready for the president’s signature”, said Barreirinhas in the audio that the Sheet had access.

“It passed through all sectors of the Civil House and, because of that, I called the two unions to share this news. It can be signed at any time, I have no governance over it. In fact, it is completely ready. If it was not signed today, will be signed tomorrow,” he said.

The secretary also stated that the Secretary of the Treasury, Rogério Ceron, was a “partner” (sic) issuing an opinion that provided the budgetary basis to support the proposal that passed through the Civil House.

The head of Revenue recalled that Ceron —who “has nothing to do with history”—was Treasury Secretary in São Paulo and, therefore, knows the importance “of decent remuneration, which encourages, but also of historical reparation “, says Barreirinhas in the audio.

The secretary did not detail what was, after all, the proposal that will be signed by President Lula.

Discussions on the payment of the efficiency bonus for tax auditors have been held since 2016 and have already been the target of criticism by the TCU (Union Court of Auditors).

During the debates surrounding the decree, bonuses for active auditors would go from R$3,000 to R$9,000. Inactive servers would earn BRL 6,000 instead of BRL 1,820.

With the readjustment, a civil servant earning top-of-the-career pay will be able to reach the official ceiling —R$ 39,000 per month.

If these numbers are maintained, the account means an increase of almost R$ 900 million per year for the Union’s coffers. The measure in favor of Revenue servants would be signed at a time when the government is still articulating with Congress measures of the fiscal package announced by Minister Fernando Haddad (Finance) to reduce the gap in public accounts this year —among them, the return of taxes on fuels and changes in CARF (Administrative Council of Tax Appeals) rules.

The decree comes at a time when auditors are at the center of the episode involving the seizure of jewelry that entered the country illegally through a member of the Ministry of Mines and Energy entourage in October 2021.

Marcos Soeiro, special advisor to the then Minister Bento Albuquerque, entered the country without declaring that he was bringing an alleged gift from the government of Saudi Arabia in the amount of R$ 16.5 million —a set of women’s jewelry by the Swiss brand Chopard that would be destined for the then First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro. The case was revealed by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.

Former President Jair Bolsonaro tried to recover these valuable objects and even called the then Revenue Secretary, Julio Cesar Vieira Gomes, who pressured another auditor at the Guarulhos airport to release them.

In both cases, the auditors fulfilled their role and did not give in to pressure.