Entrepreneurs launched this Thursday (1st) a manifesto in defense of the exemption of the payroll. The maintenance of the policy, according to them, seeks to reverse the situation of increased informality and the decline in competitiveness of the Brazilian economy.
The event’s organizers also took advantage of the meeting to repudiate the action against businessmen who made anti-democratic publications in a WhatsApp group, according to a report by the Metrópoles portal. They even held a minute of silence in support of the entrepreneurs.
The event, organized by the IUB (Instituto União Brasil), took place in a club in the south of São Paulo and brought together names such as Flávio Rocha (Riachuelo) and Luigi Nese (National Confederation of Services), as well as members of the federal government, among them Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy), parliamentarians, businessmen and specialists.
According to the organizers, so far no concrete evidence has been presented of the alleged involvement in criminal activities of the businessmen who spoke of a coup d’état if former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) wins the elections.
The chairman of the board of directors of Grupo Guararapes (Riachuelo), Flávio Rocha, also spoke out against the action of STF (Supreme Federal Court) minister Alexandre de Moraes.
President of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), Moraes authorized searches against Bolsonarista businessmen, generating new friction between the Planalto and the Judiciary on the eve of the elections.
Among the targets were Bolsonaristas Luciano Hang, from Havan, José Isaac Peres, from the Multiplan shopping chain, Ivan Wrobel, from Construtora W3, José Koury, from Barra World Shopping, André Tissot, from Grupo Sierra, Meyer Nigri, from Tecnisa, Marco Aurélio Raymundo, from Mormaii, and Afrânio Barreira, from the Coco Bambu Group.
On several occasions at this Thursday’s event, participants made a point of emphasizing the importance of the role of women in government and in the private sector — a topic that has gained prominence in the electoral campaign.
The only female speaker at the event, the president of Caixa Econômica Federal, Daniella Marques, recalled the bank’s importance in the distribution of Emergency Aid, during the pandemic.
Who represented the workers’ side at the meeting was the president of UGT (General Union of Workers), Ricardo Patah. He defended a union between the category and businessmen, for the construction of a fairer tax reform.
“We are still in a pandemic, with unemployment and discouragement. But it is not an ideological debate, it is a pragmatic debate”, said Patah. He reinforced that there was a reduction in unemployment, but with a loss of the salary mass. “Something is wrong. We need to show society the changes we need to make.”
GUEDES CALLS CONCERN ABOUT 2023 A ‘PESSIMISM SCROLLING INDUSTRY’
“You can raise that he deserves”, said Nabil Sahyoun, president of the IUB (Instituto União Brasil) when announcing the presence of Guedes and citing the result of growth of 1.2% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in the second quarter, as announced this Thursday.
The minister took advantage of the meeting to say that the country had great news with its GDP and that if it stays at the same level until the end of the year, it will have grown by 2.5%. “We will continue to differentiate the political narratives from the economic facts. I used to say that they were underestimating Brazil.”
Guedes stated that he warned that economists and institutions would spend the year revising GDP upwards and inflation downwards. “It is not impossible that Brazil this year will have lower inflation than the G7 and that it will grow more.”
The minister also said that there is an “industry of scrolling pessimism”, referring to forecasts of lowering the growth forecast and increasing inflation for 2023.
“There will be a tax bomb next year? What tax bomb, what a cursed inheritance?”, he asked, when mentioning returns from the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) to the federal government.
“This generation will pay for the war [da pandemia], they said that our public debt would explode. They are now seeing the service sector with good results, full stadiums. And what happened to our debt? Everyone out there is still running a deficit.”
Guedes also urged the audience to reinforce the liberal agenda. “We want to lower taxes, open up the economy, privatize all state-owned companies,” he told participants, who reacted by repeating the minister’s last words.
Guedes also retreated after using the term “Chinese”, when referring on another occasion to the Chinese who would be coming to Brazil to destroy the country’s factories. “They said it’s disrespectful, I’m learning too.”
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