Project that limits ICMS must have resistance and slow processing, assess senators

Defended by the government as a response to rising prices in the country, the bill that creates a cap on state taxation on items such as energy and fuel must go through a slow process in the Senate.

The view among House leaders on the proposal approved by the Chamber this Wednesday (25) is that the hole caused by the text in the regional coffers will be high. Therefore, their expectation is of strong pressure from the states – which are already talking about “fulminating” the text.

The project approved by the Chamber classifies fuels, natural gas, electricity, communications and public transport as essential goods and services. With that, it would be worth understanding the STF (Supreme Federal Court) that limits the incidence of the tax to these items to a range of 17% to 18% – causing a deficit of up to R$ 83.5 billion for governors this year.

PSDB leader Izalci Lucas (DF) says that the proposal will not be approved in the House as quickly as the process in the House and that the position of the states will significantly influence the decisions.

“In practice, who represents the states is the Senate, the house of the federation. So the decision of the Senate will have to consider the position of the governors. I saw a very big impact in some states”, he affirmed.

“This debate [mudanças nos tributos estaduais] already happened in the Senate before going to the House [em referência a um projeto anterior, que buscava mudar regras de ICMS sobre combustíveis]. There was the question of interference in the autonomy of the states, but mainly the impact of this on the states must be taken into account”, he adds.

Izalci also adds that the Senate should not only approve a palliative solution and should prefer structural measures. And it also says that the Senate proposal should provide for more robust compensation for governors, if it is put to a vote.

In the same vein, the leader of Podemos, Álvaro Dias (PR), says that there will be a strong reaction from the governors. “The project will have a strong reaction from the governors and it is natural. Paraná, for example, will have a deficit of R$ 6.2 billion, 20% of the total state revenue. So it is natural that the governors resist the approval of this project”. , he said.

On the other hand, Dias adds that even the project being criticized and presenting controversial points, it would be very difficult for a parliamentarian to vote against it once the proposal is submitted for consideration.

“For a parliamentarian it is very difficult to be against the tax limit. Why? Because the tax burden is very heavy. This is the usual speech, isn’t it? Now, as there is no comprehensive, simplifying tax reform that taxes less in consumption and more in income, we are subject to these patches, and we go through each step further disorganizing our tax system”, added Dias.

The minority leader, Jean Paul Prates (PT-RN), also says that the perspective in relation to the project approved in the House is of “serious damage to the accounts of the states”.

The PT congressman was the rapporteur of the proposal that provided for the creation of the compensation account, whose resources would be used to minimize the impact of fluctuations in fuel prices. Prates says that the Chamber of Deputies shelved the proposal and then “tries to pull solutions out of the hat.” He also states that changes will be promoted in the text coming from the Chamber, to avoid greater damage to the states.

“We are going to try to improve the project in the Senate. The worst of all worlds is that this looting of state budgets is carried out and the cut does not reach the consumer, only increasing the profit margin of the production chains”, he says.

“Unfortunately, we are watching Congress jeopardize the provision of public services throughout the country with the sole objective of endorsing the political project of reelection of the president”, he adds.

Next Monday (30), state finance secretaries will meet with the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), to try to stop the project.

Pacheco says that the text seems to be a “smart” proposal to reduce prices, but he said that he will seek to hear the governors. The states even promise to go to the STF to stop the proposal.

“The intention of the National Congress, Chamber and Senate is to seek intelligent, effective solutions to reduce fuel prices and, once voted in the Chamber, even out of respect for the Chamber of Deputies, we will give full attention to the project”, said Pacheco .

The Senate president said he will talk to leaders to hammer out whether the proposal will pass through House committees or whether it will go straight to a plenary vote.

“We don’t want to sacrifice any of the parties, neither the federal government, nor the states, nor Petrobras. But the consumer cannot be sacrificed. So, in this priority criterion, we have to give this priority to consumers, but build a solution through this search for awareness and the participation of governors is fundamental”, he added.

The states see the bill as unconstitutional and say that the solution found by the government and the Chamber will not solve the problem.

Felipe Salto, finance secretary for the state of São Paulo, says the project is an aberration. “It is unconstitutional and does not solve the problem. The price of fuel is increasing, but it is not due to ICMS. It is because oil is rising”, he says.

Salto reinforces the understanding that the Union’s compensation to the states (which is provided for in the project in cases of loss of revenue greater than 5%) is based on a trigger that should not be triggered. According to the states, ICMS revenues have naturally grown at an annual rate of more than 15% in many federative units – with this, even considering the tax cut to be applied by the project, the governors would end up without counterparts.

The secretary says that the government has tried to throw the problem onto the states, saying that the regional funds are full, but that the Union itself has benefited from more revenue – including higher gains from oil and gas stakes and Petrobras dividends. Therefore, he says, the Treasury could create subsidies focused on the poorest.

Décio Padilha, president of Comsefaz (committee of state finance secretaries), says he will take requests for changes to the text to Pacheco. “We are going to demonstrate all of this and show alternatives to improve the project and also put in place a solution that is effective. By only dealing with ICMS, we are seeing that it is not the solution”, he says.