Tax reform stalls, and Lira’s concentrated effort to vote on economic guidelines could implode – 07/04/2023 – Panel

The main agenda of the week of concentrated effort convened by President Arthur Lira (PP-AL), the tax reform stalled in the Chamber, the target of an offensive by sectors such as health, services and agro and also under pressure from governors, who want to manage the collection of taxes.

According to party leaders and legislative technicians, it is unlikely that the text will reach a consensus by Friday (7) that will enable the number of votes necessary for it to be approved —because it is a PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution), it needs the support of at least 308 deputies, in two-round voting.

In their assessment, it was Lira’s mistake to guide the reform this week. They speak of an attempt by the president of the Chamber to impose his rhythm without consulting the leaders and benches. Behind the scenes, some still see an intention by Alagoas to divert attention from investigations into deviations in the robotics kit.

One of the main obstacles in the text, the federative council will hardly be converted by the rapporteur Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB) into a clearing house, as the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) wants. Other governors, such as Ronaldo Caiado (União Brasil), from Goiás, also want to change the way the collection is transferred.

In addition to the tax, two other projects of the week of concentrated effort —Carf (Tax Resources Administration Council) and fiscal framework— are facing difficulties.

Carf’s text began to suffer resistance after the rapporteur, Beto Pereira (PSDB-MS), inserted a series of changes, among them the extension from 30 to 90 days of the period for registration in the active debt of the Union, which removes the exclusivity of the PGFN (Attorney General of the National Treasury) to transact with the taxpayer.

Deputies see the Federal Revenue union lobby in the decision, which prevented the vote on the project this Tuesday. According to them, the text can only be voted on if the rapporteur agrees to review the amendment.

In the case of the framework, there is still disagreement about the changes made by the Senate. Some benches defend that the text of the Chamber be resumed.

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