Tebet: tax reform could increase GDP by 1% from 2025

Brasilia DF) – The Minister of Planning and Budget, Simone Tebet, said this Monday (12th), in São Paulo, that the tax reform could increase the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by up to 1% as of 2025.

“According to a study that was presented to us, the tax reform, starting in 2025, would already be able to increase the GDP by 1% beyond what Brazil will already grow. If you take 20 years, let’s round this number down, an increase of 15% more. And that 15% more growth is revenue for those states and municipalities that think they will lose out with the tax reform”.

With growth, the minister pointed out, no federative entity will lose with the tax reform, as they always thought, since “the states that win will compensate the states that lose”.

“No one loses in this process. On the contrary, in the case of municipalities, the more than absolute majority [ganha]. Only 600 counties would lose something. The others would win. So those 600 will not lose because they will be compensated in the next 20 or 30 years, according to the report”, defends the minister.

According to Simone Tebet, the rapporteur for the tax reform proposal, deputy Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB), is listening to the sectors most resistant to approval. “He is listening to some service sectors, two or three, who think they could be harmed by being at a certain end of the production chain. We are working hard with the agro sector to show that agriculture will not be impacted since today it pays more taxes than you imagine”, said Tebet.

For the minister, the current moment is favorable to the approval of the reform. “The economy is screaming this need, especially the industry sector, which generates the most jobs and which is not able to compete with imported products. The political class is also aware, after the other reforms, that this is the necessary reform. And we are seeing, in the press, a space to talk to Brazil. So, the time is right.”

council

This afternoon, the minister was at the headquarters of the Chemical Workers Union of São Paulo for a plenary session with the trade union centrals Central dos Trabalhadores e Trabalhadoras do Brasil (CTB), General Union of Workers (UGT), Central dos Sindicatos Brasileiros (CSB) , New Workers’ Union Central (NCST), Public, Interunion, Força Sindical and Unified Workers’ Central (CUT).

The centrals are part of the Sustainable Economic and Social Development Council (CDESS), called Conselhão, a body recreated this year by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and which debates agendas and topics of interest to the most diverse segments of society. The CDESS is a direct advisory body to the president in all areas of action of the Executive Branch, helping to formulate policies and guidelines aimed at the economic, social and sustainable development of the country.

During today’s plenary session to discuss the Pluriannual Plan (PPA) 2024 to 2027, which will define the federal government’s priorities for the coming years, the minister received the Agenda for the Working Class from the centrals, a document with 63 proposals to compose the PPA . She suggested that trade unionists make a “legitimate lobby, a legitimate pressure” for the tax reform to pass in Congress. “You need to say that Brazilian workers want and need tax reform, which is the only silver bullet that will make Brazil grow in a sustainable, lasting way and generate jobs and income”.

“How can Brazil grow with this taxation that we have, with this tax system that we have? On the one hand, we are taking care of the tax so that inflation does not skyrocket, since inflation is the worst tax for workers and the poorest. On the other hand, we only have one silver bullet: tax reform. The tax system in Brazil today heavily penalizes industries that cannot compete with large foreign industries,” says the minister.

Tebet reported that he is visiting all Brazilian states to discuss the PPA. “We are going through the 27 states of the Brazilian federation, all the capitals. But also listening to business sectors and workers. We will still hear from teachers and students, ”she said. “We have already toured 11 of the 27 Brazilian capitals. We have to finish the PPA more or less by the 14th or 15th of July, so that then in the review, the team can work and incorporate everything in the form of a project, which needs to be delivered by the 31st of August, ”she explained.

February

Earlier, also in São Paulo, the minister participated in a CDESS meeting with the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban) to hear proposals from the business segment for the PPA. In an interview with journalists shortly after the meeting, the minister said she hoped that the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) could lower the basic interest rate for the Brazilian economy, the Selic, which is currently at 13.75% per annum.

“I can confidently say that the federal government’s economic team has done its homework. We are putting the house in order, which means that we are providing all the elements and conditions for the Central Bank, the Copom, to start looking with affection and showing a downward trend in interest rates from now on, predicting a drop in interest rates already from August”.

Also in the morning, the minister said that she would meet with the Federal Senate next Thursday (15th), to discuss issues related to the fiscal framework. To journalists, the minister defended that, if the fiscal framework is approved in the Senate in the way it passed by the Chamber of Deputies, the federal government will have to cut expenses next year.

“By stating that the IPCA [Índice de Preços ao Consumidor Amplo] until the middle of the year, you reduce public spending capacity. By including, within the new ceiling, the nursing floor, the (Constitutional) Fund of the Federal District (FCDF) and unlike Fundeb (Fund for the Maintenance and Development of Basic Education), you practically immobilize part of the budget”, he declared. the minister. “We are between R$ 32 billion and R$ 40 billion less than what we need to close public expenses in Brazil next year. If the framework is approved the way it is, obviously we will cut expenses next year. This means that the framework does not come with this laxity in public spending, as many have presented. On the contrary, it is more restrictive and we are going to show this to the Senate”, she added.

In the afternoon, the minister told journalists that this possibility of spending cuts should reach discretionary expenses. “We have around 4% of discretionary expenses in Brazil. And these expenses involve the cost of the machine and there are some parliamentary amendments. But it really cuts the public machine, with some infrastructure works”, she concludes.

*With information from Agência Brasil

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