Pacheco promises to analyze proposal to hold fuel prices after Lira collection

After recent criticism by the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), said this Monday (17) that he intends to put to a vote a proposal to hold the rise of the fuel prices around the parliamentary recess in February.

The bill that will be analyzed by the senators, however, is not what Lira charged over the weekend, which proposes changes in the collection of ICMS (Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services) on fuels — which became a point of friction between the two houses.

Senators must consider a proposal that creates a stabilization program for the price of oil and derivatives. The bill was approved in early December by the Senate’s CAE (Commission on Economic Affairs).

Without mentioning the controversy or directly rebutting Lira, the Senate presidency released a statement referring to the bill 1472, which is authored by the PT bench. The proposal is reported by Senator Jean Paul Prates (PT-RN).

“I will submit it to the evaluation of the College of Leaders at the beginning of February. The intention is to guide. Senator Jean Paul Prates will be the rapporteur and he is dedicating himself a lot to the subject”, said the president of the Senate in the statement.

On Sunday (16), Arthur Lira used his social media to charge the Senate for shelving the proposal approved in the House to try to hold down fuel prices. Lira also took the opportunity to criticize the governors, who decided last week to unfreeze the ICMS charge on fuel.

Thus, the tax unfreezing should take place as initially planned, on January 31.

The forecast is that the price of gasoline will rise in the coming days.

“The Chamber dealt with the bill that mitigated the effects of fuel increases. Sent to the Senate, it became an ugly duckling and Geni from the market crowd”, wrote the president of the Chamber of Deputies.

“They said I was interventionist and electoral. Now, at the beginning of an election year, governors, with Wellington Dias at the helm, are demanding solutions from Congress. the price,” he added.

The deputy also added that the governors had shown resistance to reducing ICMS rates. And it concluded by throwing the final responsibility to the Senate.

“They could have pressed even last year. That’s why I remember the governors’ resistance to reducing the ICMS at the time. I also record that we did our part. Charges, go to the Senate”, wrote Lira.

The rise in prices has become one of the main problems for President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who repeatedly claims that local taxes contribute to the rise. The price of fuel, however, follows international parity. When oil goes up, the price goes up, and vice versa. In addition, the dollar, which is currently high, has an impact on values.

In October, the Chamber approved a project that changes the rule on the ICMS (state tax) on fuels and provides for the tax to be applied to the average value of the last two years to lower the price of gasoline.

The proposal ended up shelved in the Senate. Pacheco and the main leaders of the Legislative House began to say that the fuel issue should be discussed within the scope of a broad tax reform.

Pacheco intends to put the tax reform proposal to a vote in the first half of the year, first, in February, at the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission).

The proposal that Pacheco intends to analyze to contain the rise in fuel prices provides for a series of measures to try to soften the impact of the fluctuation of oil prices on the international market.

The report approved by the CAE proposes, for example, the creation of an export tax on crude oil. The revenue from this tax would be earmarked for a fund, whose proceeds would be used to stabilize prices. Also on Monday, the rapporteur Jean Paul Prates countered Lira’s statements.

“It is, at the very least, a mistake by the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira, to want to blame the Senate for the absurd price of fuel. It is the Senate that is working on a complete solution to put an end to this escalation that so penalizes Brazilians,” he said. , in a note released by its press office.

Prates also said that the House must vote on another proposal with an impact on fuel prices, which amends the Kandir Law.

The congressman estimates that the set of measures to be voted on by the plenary of the Senate can lower the value of cooking gas by up to R$ 20 and the price of gasoline and diesel by up to R$ 2 to R$ 3, within 40 years. days after its approval.