Bolsonaro must veto withdrawal of food stamp balance

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) must veto the possibility of workers withdrawing food vouchers that are not used in cash, present in a proposal that changes the rules of the benefit. The government must claim that the measure brings legal uncertainty.

Government members believe that, despite the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws) indicating that the benefit has an indemnity nature, the cash payment of this balance raises doubts about the nature of the resources – which can be seen as remunerative and, therefore, become suffer taxation.

The possibility had already been anticipated by Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), son of the president and rapporteur of the project – resulting from an MP (Provisional Measure) sent by the government to change the rules of the benefit.

The proposal was approved in early August by congressmen. The deadline for sanction is this Friday (2). Parliamentarians will have the final word on the text, and may overturn the vetoes of the Chief Executive.

According to Abrasel (Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants), the possibility that the food allowance can be withdrawn in cash by employees if it is not used within 60 days is still a risk to the sector.

For the entity, this measure distorts the primary function of the aid, which is to guarantee the worker’s food, as it will allow the value to be used in other types of expenses.

There is controversy over the change. For Fernanda Borges Darós, lawyer and partner at Silveiro Advogados and specialist in business law (PUC-RS), the measure is right.

“It is necessary to remember that the food allowance belongs to the worker and it is up to him to dispose of this resource in the best way he sees fit, as long as it does not distort its purpose”, he said.

According to her, both the aid and the meal vouchers can be provided for in union negotiation or be offered by the employer freely through registration in the PAT (Worker’s Food Program). Therefore, it is not part of the employee’s remuneration and is not subject to taxation, such as Income Tax.

Bolsonaro should veto yet another stretch, as indicated by the economic team at the time of the vote in Congress.

Parliamentarians included the possibility of transferring the leftovers of the mandatory union contribution, which was extinguished in 2017, to union centrals.

Honorary president of Força Sindical, Paulinho da Força (SD-SP) was chosen MP’s rapporteur for the proximity he has with the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL).

The device that deals with the possibility of transferring the residual balance of union dues to centrals should end the dispute for the resource, which can exceed R$ 600 million.

This amount would have been passed on to the Ministry of Labor due to filling errors at the time. These resources should have already been delivered to the entities, according to them — and the text meets them.