2023-06-26 23:50:00
Sector representatives participated in the debate at the Assembly and revealed their concern
Trade and government representatives discussed concerns about tax reform with state deputies. (Photo: Paulo Francis)
Representatives of the trade and services sectors participated this afternoon in a public hearing at the Legislative Assembly of Mato Grosso do Sul and expressed concern about the impacts that the tax reform could produce, negatively affecting economic activities. The debates in the National Congress involve the extinction of taxes on goods and services and the creation of a single tax, the IVA (Value Added Tax), to be charged by the three administrative spheres – Union, State and Municipality.
The discussions, for the time being, involved mainly the governors, who have been presenting their concerns with the impact of changing tax incentive policies, state investment funds and the collection of the main tax they collect and which will be extinguished, the ICMS (Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services).
At this afternoon’s meeting, led by state deputy Pedro Pedrossian Neto, from the PSD, representatives of commerce and services decided to present a letter in which they express their concerns, still to be finalized. Speaking on behalf of the Federation of CDLs (Chambers of Shopkeepers), Inês Santiago said that everyone is “in the dark”, in a reference to the lack of details on the changes being discussed in Congress. “We are only seeing the beginning, we do not see the middle or the end”.
Since the rapporteur, Deputy Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB), released some information on Thursday last week, after a meeting with governors in Brasília, the states have been focusing on the issues to reach a position. Over the weekend, specialists commented that the strategy at this time is not to give details of the project so that the debate can advance when the text is delivered for discussion in the Chamber, which should occur next week.
Also representative of the commercial sector, Renato Paniago, from the Commercial Association of Campo Grande, pointed out that consumption corresponds to about 30% of the expenses of the domestic budget. He believes in increased taxation, which could be catastrophic for the sector and would impact the performance of the economy.
Representing the government, the Secretary of the Civil House, Eduardo Rocha, defended the debates, since the reform will bring many changes, but considered that “it is not a seven-headed animal”, reaffirming what Governor Eduardo Riedel said last week past, by defending the changes, albeit with safeguards against one-off losses.
Author of the request for an audience, Pedrossian Neto has reiterated a critical position towards the reform, even using expressions such as “experimentalism”. He points out that it involves many changes in the tax system, resembling a mini-constitution. It would be a very big impact, he analyzes. He mentions a very long transition period, 52 years, which will allow the coexistence of two regimes.
Among the issues he expressed concern are reimbursements for losses in the states, he considers that compensation funds need to be clearer already in the text of the reform, which is a proposal for a constitutional amendment and should not be delegated to a later definition, by means of a law additional. There must be compensation for losses with the end of incentive policies and changes in the systematic taxation of the sale of goods, which should harm smaller states, such as MS, to the detriment of larger centers of consumption.
The parliamentarian said he feared that the extinction of state policies of fiscal incentives, for the next decade, would risk losing investments and even deindustrialization and also defended that the reform could affect the agricultural sector, with an increase in taxation.
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