By Maria Carolina Marcello
BRASILIA (Reuters) – The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), formalized this Wednesday the creation of a working group that will discuss the tax reform in the House, but a voting date will only be defined from of an agreement that enables its approval.
Coordinated by Deputy Reginaldo Lopes (PT-MG), and with Deputy Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB) as rapporteur, the group of 12 members will discuss the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) already in progress in the Chamber, and will have 90 days to complete the work, which may be extended for an equal period.
Aguinaldo added, however, that more than formal deadlines, what will define the date for voting on the proposal will be the level of consensus between parliamentarians, the productive sector and representatives of federal entities.
“What determines the deadline is the number of votes to approve the matter”, said the rapporteur to journalists, declaring himself, however, to be optimistic.
According to him, the scenario for the approval of the PEC is different this year, and there is a desire from society as a whole, including the government, to have a reform approved. There remain only, according to Aguinaldo, “specific disagreements” involving federative entities and sectors of the economy.
“Conceptually we are going to have simplification there”, said the deputy, recalling, for example, the initiative to create a Value Added Tax (VAT), which would eliminate at least 5 other taxes.
According to the coordinator of the group created this Wednesday, the expectation is to discuss the reformulation of the Brazilian tax system in two phases. The idea is that new rules for taxes levied on consumption are voted on in the Chamber still in this first semester.
“We are going to carry out the tax reform in two stages. The first is indirect taxes, taxes on consumption. The second stage, direct taxes, that is, modernize our tax collection system on income, property, payroll”, the group’s coordinator told CNN Brasil.
“In the first stage, I hope, I think it is necessary to vote in the first semester. I think that a reform like the tax reform, which is structural both from the point of view of the Legislative, the Chamber, the Senate, but also from the point of view of view of the Executive, or vote in the first year, or not vote.”
The tax reform should also be the subject of a dinner this Wednesday, in Brasília, between the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, and representatives of the market and the business community, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
Under discussion for years in the Legislature, the issue of tax reform is currently addressed in two main PECs that await a vote: PEC 45, in the Chamber, prepared by the current extraordinary secretary of tax reform at the Ministry of Finance, Bernardo Appy, and PEC 110 , in the Senate.
Both have as a common denominator the extinction or unification of taxes on goods and services. In regulatory terms, PEC 45 is ready to be voted by the plenary of the Chamber.
A vote, however, lacks agreement, given the complexity of the issue and the requirement of a special quorum for the approval of at least 308 favorable votes in two rounds among the 513 deputies.
The government has already expressed sympathy for the House’s PEC, but has also signaled the possibility of accepting points in the Senate’s proposal.
Aguinaldo, who has already reported on the same subject in a joint commission of deputies and senators on the two PECs, considers that the working group will offer “a very interesting opportunity to consolidate the convergence of the Chamber, Senate and federal government”.