The president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), affirmed this Tuesday (14) that the states are not having a crisis and accused the state governments of having an abusive problem of collection and giving an increase to the civil service “in an irresponsible way. “.
In an interview with CNN Brasil, he said that the deputies will vote this Tuesday on the project that limits the ICMS (state tax) on energy, fuel, transport and telecommunications to 17%-18%. The text was approved on Monday (13) by the senators. As there were changes, it returns to the Chamber.
Lira denied that Congress intends to reduce state revenues. According to him, the objective is that “collections do not grow exponentially as they have been doing on top of the population, in an inflationary process that is not only triggered in Brazil.”
“We will go from a forecast of high collection in these items that are being regulated from R$ 116 billion more than in 2021 to possibly R$ 70 billion, R$ 80 billion in 2022”, he said. “But it is high in revenue compared to 2021, which rejects any hypothesis at first of loss of resources in education and health.”
Lira specifically commented on a change in relation to the text approved in the Chamber. The senators included a provision that obliges the Union to compensate states with the amounts from the collection that would be destined for Fundeb and for the constitutional minimum destined for health and education.
He stressed that there will be no drop in revenue for the states, but a growing decrease in collection on fuel, energy and communications that will be offset by the heating up of the economy, increased consumption and lower tax evasion, in addition to the growth in collection.
Lira criticized states and Petrobras and said that there is no reason, in a moment of crisis, for both of them “to be collecting horrors on the shoulders of those who today cannot have the least.”
“Essentiality directly affects the abusive problem of tax collection in the states, which are not experiencing a crisis. They are increasing their civil service in an even irresponsible way, increasing the fiscal responsibility index from thirty-somethings to 48%, 50%. a policy, against the grain of the crisis, of a lot of populism in their states”, he said.
The president of the Chamber denied that the establishment of a state of calamity is the solution to the fuel and energy price crisis faced by the country.
“The state of calamity also brings harmful effects to the economy, it is an impediment. The way out that we are pointing to at the moment is the best way out, it is tax reduction”, he said. “In some cases, zero taxes, both federal and state. In the cases of state taxes, the federal government will pay for the difference in essentiality, which is 17%, 18%, as a modal. Anything beyond that will depend on the moment, the severity , the extent of these measures and the development.”
The bill passed in the Senate on Monday and which should be voted on this Tuesday in the Chamber considers fuel, energy, telecommunications and transport as essential items and establishes that ICMS rates on these items cannot exceed 17% or 18%.
The proposal hits the states hard. Some of them, like Rio de Janeiro, have a 34% rate for these goods and services and will be forced to reduce it by half.
The project was approved by the Chamber of Deputies at the end of May, under strong protests from governors, who sought to reverse the main points during the Senate – legislative house closest to the states.
The proposal approved by the deputies included compensation to states in case of loss of revenue. A trigger was foreseen that would be triggered to determine the compensation when the loss of collection exceeds 5%.
The rapporteur in the Senate, Fernando Bezerra Coelho (MDB-PE), changed the text to determine that the trigger will be activated when there is a variation greater than 5% only in the collection with fuel, energy, telecommunications and transport.
The senator welcomed another amendment determining that the variation of inflation will also be considered to determine the percentage of drop in collection. The amendment benefits the states.
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