Tax Reform: Senators talk about careful analysis – 07/07/2023 – Market

The Federal Senate intends to request estimates of the impact of the Tax Reform, analyze the balance for states and municipalities, and set its own pace for discussions on the text approved by the Chamber of Deputies.

Senate leaders say that, in general terms, the proposal is positive, but they estimate that not all federal deputies knew exactly what was being voted on this Thursday (6) after the latest agreements.

Privately, senators claim that the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), wanted to speed up the voting during the week to achieve a demonstration of political strength, and they say that the Senate does not intend to trample the procedure.

The leader of Podemos, Oriovisto Guimarães (PR), believes that the discussion should last at least 60 days. Author of an alternative reform proposal (PEC 46, of 2022), he states that the text of the Chamber “should be unified with the proposals of the Senate”.

“Changes will happen, with absolute certainty”, he says. “These funds will be very powerful bodies, which will end up controlling even governors politically. They will have more power than the governor. So all of this will be reviewed.”

The text approved by the Chamber provides for the merger of PIS, Cofins and IPI (federal taxes), ICMS (state) and ISS (municipal) into one IVA (Value Added Tax).

The system will be dual: a portion of the rate will be administered by the federal government through the CBS (Contribution on Goods and Services), and the other by states and municipalities through the IBS (Tax on Goods and Services).

To manage and collect the IBS, there will be the creation of a federative council with 27 state members (one for each state and the Federal District) and 27 representatives of the set of municipalities and the DF.

As the states and the DF have exactly the same number of senators (three for each, totaling 81), governors who feel aggrieved, such as Goiás, Ronaldo Caiado (União), rely on the Senate to oil the text.

One of Caiado’s criticisms is precisely the IBS federative council. In an agreement closed at the last minute, the rapporteur, Deputy Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB), gave greater power to the states of the South and Southeast.

MDB leader Eduardo Braga (AM) says the Senate will “rebalance even more” the Tax Reform. According to him, “other issues still need to be improved”.

Before approval by the Chamber, parliamentarians from Amazonas even spoke with the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, about the Manaus Free Trade Zone.

“Is the Tax Reform important? It is. But at the same time we need to ensure that the Amazon, the Amazon, continues to be able to generate jobs”, says Braga.

The leader of the PSDB, Izalci Lucas (DF), says that there is also a concern with the definitive rates of each tribute. The PEC provides that the rates are defined by a complementary law based on calculations by the Ministry of Finance.

“‘Ah, the Senate is going to stamp it.’ It won’t be that way. We have a fundamental role in the reform. First we are going to do a review and a simulation, what is the result of this. And a lot was thrown into the complementary laws.”

During this Thursday’s meeting of leaders, senators mentioned the creation of a working group along the lines of what was done in the Chamber, but the hammer has not been beaten.

According to the leader of the government in Congress, Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), the rapporteur for the text tends to be with the MDB —Lula’s base party and the second largest bench in the Senate. The first of them, from the PSD, reported the latest weighty matter, the new fiscal framework.

The leader of the PSD, Otto Alencar (BA), says that most of the articles are “pacified”, and that the Senate does not intend to change “the spirit of the law”. For him, the Senate can help provide more security to taxpayers, states, municipalities and the Union.

“I think that a preliminary survey could already be carried out through the Federal Revenue Service to find out more or less the collection. And determine whether there will be an increase in taxes or not”, he says.

In yet another sign that the Senate intends to modify the text, the leader of the government in the House, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA), stated that the senators who already “are observing what is happening in the Chamber”, want to “make their contribution to the nation”.

The Minister of Planning herself, former Senator Simone Tebet (MDB), said this Thursday that the Senate “will need a little more time” and that, knowing the House, all regulatory deadlines will be used.

“And it’s even good to have this time because it is such an important reform that it is necessary that the 27 states of the Brazilian federation are satisfied and sure that they will not have losses in their collection”, he said.

“The Constitution and Justice Commission will hold several public hearings, it will hear the mayors of capitals, the interior, it will hear the ministries, civil society, bodies, sectors, and obviously make the necessary adjustments”, he added. .

Part of the resistance, however, comes from the PL — the second largest group, next to the MDB, with eleven senators. Faced with pressure from former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), only 20 of the 99 federal deputies of the acronym voted in favor of the Reform.

Before the vote in the Chamber, the opposition leader in the Senate, Rogério Marinho (PL), prepared a technical note against the text and said that there was no time to assess the impact on sectors and municipalities.

This Friday (7), the President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), greeted the Chamber through Lira and the rapporteur and said that it is up to the Senate “to fulfill its role to deliver this important reform to the country”.