Senate approves PL of government interest that taxes “super-rich” and offshore companies

The Senate approved this Wednesday (29) the bill that provides for the taxation of offshore companies and exclusive investment funds, aimed at the “super-rich”. The proposal is part of the package of measures proposed by the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, to increase federal revenue and eliminate the fiscal deficit by 2024. PL 4,173/2023 was approved, symbolically, in the form of the substitute presented by the rapporteur, senator Alessandro Vieira (MDB-SE).

Now, the text goes to presidential sanction. With the approval of the project, the federal government expects to raise R$20 billion in 2024 and R$54 billion by 2026. However, the financial market estimates that revenue should reach R$7 billion next year and R$20 billion until 2026.

Deputies approved the proposal on October 25th. The Senate rapporteur did not make changes to the merits of the project, only to the wording of some sections, so the text will not need to be returned for a new analysis by the Chamber. The matter had already been approved by the Economic Affairs Committee (CAE) on November 22. The PL provides for 15% taxation – once a year – of income from financial investments, profits and dividends from offshore companies, that is, companies abroad that invest in the financial market.

In addition, the proposal sets a rate of 8% in the rate charged to investors who choose to update their accumulated income until December 31st of this year. The text also defined the incidence of the so-called “come-quotas” for exclusive funds. In this case, the rates are 15% for long-term funds and 20% for short-term funds, charged semi-annually.

Senators spoke out against the proposal

Although the vote was symbolic, the following senators spoke out against the project: Oriovisto Guimarães (Podemos-PR), Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), Jorge Seif (PL-SC), Cleitinho (Republicanos-MG), Magno Malta ( PL-ES), Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE) and senators Soraya Thronicke (Podemos-MS) and Damares Alves (Republicanos-DF).

The opposition leader, senator Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), criticized the project and said that the current government “has little regard for public accounts”. He stated that “the government has excelled in resolving the problem of public accounts on the revenue side, in many cases recurring, which will not be repeated in subsequent years”, reported the Senate Agency.

The project was also criticized by senator Oriovisto Guimarães (Podemos-PR), who classified the text as “technically horrible”. “The project is so open, that my prediction is very simple: in January of next year there will be no more fund exclusive in the country. The come-cota is a Brazilian jabuticaba, you are charging tax on unfinished investment, on the intention of a profit”, said Guimarães.