Bolsonaro’s veto of Refis causes outrage and puts small businesses in check, say entrepreneurs

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Leaders of business entities show indignation with the Full veto by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) of the bill that intended to open a tax debt renegotiation program (Refis) for MEIs (individual microentrepreneurs) and companies classified under Simples Nacional.

According to them, the proposal would represent a breath for business after the damage caused by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

In a context of cost pressure and reduced purchasing power of consumers, as is the current case, businessmen believe that the impasse may jeopardize the future of smaller companies.

“The veto clearly shows that the President of the Republic is not committed to the employment and maintenance of activities”, says the president of Simpi (Union of Micro and Small Industry of the State of São Paulo), Joseph Couri.

“We are talking about a moment of price increase, cost pressure for companies and loss of the population’s consumption power”, he says.

By vetoing the bill, Bolsonaro answered the Ministry of Economy and the AGU (Advocacy-General of the Union), which pointed to a risk of violating the LRF (Fiscal Responsibility Law) and provisions of the LDO (Budget Guidelines Law) and the Constitution.

The decision was published in the Official Gazette this Friday (7). On the return of the legislative year, in February, parliamentarians will analyze the veto, and may overturn it.

As reported by the leaf, the jurisprudence of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) is controversial on the subject, and the legal team advised the president not to risk becoming ineligible in the year in which he will seek a new term. The veto, however, caused irritation in the National Congress, which is already articulating the overthrow.

In the business world, the promise is also of mobilization in search of reversal and a new way out of the matter.

“What we are going to do is work to overturn the veto. We are going to disclose to Brazil the parliamentarians who will vote against and in favor of the veto”, says Couri.

It was estimated that the new program would allow the renegotiation of R$ 50 billion in debts of micro and small companies classified under the Simples and MEI regimes.

“We are very sorry about the veto, because it comes at a critical time for small businesses. Many have not yet recovered from the impact of the pandemic”, says the superintendent director of Sebrae (Brazilian Service of Support for Micro and Small Enterprises) of Sao Paulo, Wilson Poit.

According to a Sebrae survey carried out between August and September 2021, 65% of small businesses had debts in the country.

Poit also mentions the importance of smaller companies for the Brazilian labor market. Another Sebrae survey pointed out that micro and small businesses were responsible for almost 80% of formal job vacancies created in the last month of October. The survey considered information from the Caged (General Register of Employed and Unemployed).

“Recently, the government extended the payroll exemption, which benefits large companies. Now, we hope that a solution will be found for small businesses”, reports the director.

In September, a report by the leaf showed that the crisis generated by the pandemic caused the closure of thousands of companies in the country, and the turmoil mainly affected smaller companies, with up to five employees.

‘We are in despair’, says restaurant association president

The presidential veto of the new debt refinancing program is also criticized by the bar and restaurant sector.

In a note, Abrasel (Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants) stated that “a program that promised to give breath to millions of micro and small companies to renegotiate their debts with Simples ended up being a fiasco”.

“President Jair Bolsonaro’s full veto of the Debt Payment Rescheduling Program in the Scope of Simples Nacional (Relp), published this Friday (7), is just the tip of the iceberg of a project that has already left Congress poorly sewn. national,” he added.

AT leaf, the president of Abrasel, Paulo Solmucci, said he saw “incompetence” in the negotiations between the federal government and parliamentarians, who have not been able to find a definitive solution so far.

“There is incompetence and disconnection with those who are paying the bill for the pandemic. We are in despair because we were closed during the crisis to serve the collective good. We are outraged to the extreme”, says Solmucci.

Research released by Abrasel points out that, in December, 47% of the companies consulted had Simples installments in arrears. Of this group, 85% of businesses were afraid of being excluded from the tax regime.

The study also found that the vast majority (96%) were interested in the debt refinancing program. According to the survey, 60% said they would definitely adhere to the measure and another 36% said they evaluated the conditions.

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