Fiesp tells Haddad that lower tax for the industry helps to approve reform

Minister Fernando Haddad, of Finance, heard this Monday morning (30) at Fiesp (Federation of Industries of São Paulo) a request that the tax reform that the government wants to approve this year have lower taxation on the manufacturing industry .

“We applaud the neutrality of the reform, but, if you give up a little in the first moment, give up the collection in the transformation industry, you will win right ahead”, said Josué Gomes, president of the São Paulo federation.

“We have to recognize that. The tax reform has not yet been approved because within the private sector itself there is not much consensus on it,” he said.

“To achieve a cohesive reform, I have no doubt that, if you think a little and decide to lower the rates in the manufacturing industry, you can be successful and the industry will double any potential initial revenue loss.”

Josué also presented two suggestions to the minister that, according to him, can be adopted immediately while the tax reform is discussed in the National Congress.

The first refers to the depreciation of investments made in the manufacturing industry which, according to him, would generate a change in the government’s cash flow, but not in revenue. The second is to attack the IPI (Tax on Industrialized Products).

A few days ago, also at Fiesp, vice-president Geraldo Alckmin, who is also head of the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, said that the government’s goal is to end the IPI.

The possibility of repealing the 35% cut of the IPI (Tax on Industrialized Products) has put sectors of industry and the service sector on alert, since this was included in the tax package announced by the Treasury.

Haddad said again this Monday that the reform will be carried out in two stages and defended that there are conditions to approve the changes. “Everyone assures me that there was a possibility of approval last year,” he said.

According to the Minister of Finance, the package of changes in tax rules would not have advanced in the National Congress only due to the insistence of his predecessor, Paulo Guedes, on including a new tax along the lines of the extinct CPMF.

Also this Monday, Haddad was in a meeting with Roberto Campos Neto, president of the Central Bank. According to the minister, the BC should resume projects that were at a standstill and that should improve the credit environment in Brazil. One of these measures, which should come into effect later this year, would be the granting of credit through Pix, the Central Bank’s instant financial operations system.

“The news I received from him [Campos Neto] Today, several initiatives have fallen by the wayside due to formal issues”, said Haddad. According to him, in 15 days, all these proposals should be gathered and analyzed so that, by March, they can be sent to Congress.

Paulo Skaf, former president of the federation, attended this Monday’s meeting and sat at the table of authorities. José Gomes and a group of union leaders linked to Skaf were involved in a public dispute that included requests for assembly, voting for the removal of the current leader, interim possession of a deputy and even extrajudicial notification. Last week, the two signed a kind of peace treaty.