Rapporteur of a bill on fuels in the Senate proposes doubling the scope of the Gas Aid

Senator Jean Paul Prates (PT-RN), rapporteur of two projects on fuel in the House, proposes in his opinion the expansion of the Auxílio Gás program in the year 2022, to cover at least 11 million families – twice the current public.

Today, the program pays 50% of the value of the cylinder to 5.5 million families in extreme poverty who are beneficiaries of the Auxílio Brasil program. The budget reserved for the benefit is R$ 1.9 billion.

According to the text, the change would be valid for 2022, the year in which President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) seeks re-election. He is in second place in the polls, behind former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

To expand the reach, at least another R$ 1.9 billion would be needed. The senator proposes that the expense be made through extraordinary credit – thus, it would be outside the spending limit set by the cap rule.

“In relation to the spending ceiling, due to the urgency, relevance and unpredictability, the increase in resources to guarantee emergency access to cooking gas for poor families can be authorized through extraordinary credit”, says the senator in his opinion.

The economic team and the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União) have a more restrictive interpretation in relation to the criteria of urgency and unpredictability necessary to characterize extraordinary credit.

The expansion of Auxílio Gás had been defended by members of the government, according to reports collected by the leaf. The measure was even included in the PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) on Fuels filed in the Senate, dubbed by Minister Paulo Guedes’ team “PEC kamikaze”.

The proposal was given this stamp due to the high fiscal impact, calculated at more than R$ 100 billion. For the economic team, its approval would result in effects contrary to the expected reduction in fuel prices.

In recent days, the PEC has lost momentum, while negotiations around Senate bills have gained traction. The government itself held talks with the PT senator to change the text.

Jean Paul Prates had sent on Sunday night (13) to the Senate bench leaders a document with proposals for his report, anticipated by the leaf.

The proposal was discussed on Monday night (14) in a virtual meeting with the participation of Prates, the leaders of the bench and the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG).

The initial proposal did not bring the so-called “specific benefits”, such as the expansion of Auxílio Gás and the creation of a diesel aid for autonomous truck drivers. However, Prates himself had said that he was sympathetic to the idea of ​​contemplating more Auxílio Gás families and that he would accept amendments from other parliamentarians in this regard.

The bill targeted by Prates’ opinion originally dealt with the change in the calculation of ICMS (Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services) on fuels.

In the document sent Sunday, the senator had signaled that he would propose a uniform tax rate, with the possibility of a fixed charge per liter (today the rate is a percentage of the price), but with optional adhesion and focused only on diesel and biodiesel.

The opinion, however, expanded this scope and also allows for the adoption of uniform rates on gasoline. The rapporteur, however, maintained the idea that the rates will be defined by deliberation of states and the Federal District.

“The implementation of the single-phase regime for these fuels will depend on regulation by Confaz [Conselho Nacional de Política Fazendária]with the pace that the States and the Federal District deem appropriate, but in a shorter horizon than that foreseen for the tax reform”, says the opinion.

According to the text, governors will also be able to reduce the rates and then readjust them in the same year.

The complementary bill reported by Prates originated in the Chamber of Deputies, where it was approved in September, after a great articulation by the president of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL). The proposal, however, ended up initially shelved in the Senate, whose parliamentarians are more linked to the governors, resistant to the measure.

Prates’ report practically disregards the text approved by the House. The PT senator points out that the initial proposal has flaws of unconstitutionality, as it offends the autonomy of states and the Federal District to determine ICMS rates.

The rapporteur says, however, that the new version of the proposal has the sympathy of the governors. “Measure [do ICMS] counts with the sympathy of the Governors, as it presents some factors that reduce resistance to its implementation”, he said.