Fuel rapporteur wants to impose change in diesel ICMS until states unify rates

In a new change in one of the fuel projects, Senator Jean Paul Prates (PT-RN) accepted a request from the National Congress to provide, in a more forceful way, a change in the ICMS (Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services) on the diesel.

The new version of the opinion, obtained by the sheet, says that states will have the option of creating a single ICMS rate on fuels. But until this is implemented by the governors, the diesel tax will be levied on a defined calculation basis, obtained by the moving average of the last five years.

In the previous report, Prates had left the decision entirely to the governors, which displeased both the government and the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), who signaled difficulties in reaching an agreement with the deputies.

The assessment was that states would have no incentive to adopt the change. The political wing of the government and Congress want to respond to the population, penalized by successive increases in pump prices.

The reduction in fuel prices is a banner defended by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who seeks his re-election to the Planalto Palace in 2022.

The new proposal is being considered a “transition period”. The rule that sets the basis for calculation, in case of delay in adopting the single rate, will only be valid until December 31 of this year.

According to data from the ANP (National Petroleum Agency), the average price of diesel in Brazil in the last five years until January 2022 is R$ 3,669. Today, average prices are over R$5.

The format would be revoked earlier in case of regulation of the single ICMS rate by Confaz (National Council of Finance Policy). According to the text, this new rate would also apply to gasoline, ethanol and cooking gas, and would necessarily be calculated on the basis of quantity. Today, the percentage is applied to the price, which increases the collection of states in periods of high.

In addition, the new rates could only be readjusted 12 months after the first fixation. Subsequently, subsequent increases could be adopted at minimum intervals of six months, respecting the rule that provides for a 90-day advance notice for entry into force.

In practice, the opinion acts in a more incisive way for governors to change the state tax on fuel. Even the transition period is more comprehensive than in the text that had been approved in the Chamber and that was initially discarded by the PT senator.

In October last year, the Chamber approved a text that provided for the collection of ICMS rates based on the average price of the two previous years – as it was approved in 2021, the calculation base would be 2019 and 2020. This amount would result in a national average of R$ 3,509, according to ANP data. The project also determined the adoption of rates charged per liter consumed (“ad rem” model).

Jean Paul, however, initially discarded the version approved by the federal deputies, arguing that there could be a vice of unconstitutionality, for invading the autonomy of the states.

The Senate, the legislative house closest to the governors, had considered the House text invasive in relation to the prerogatives of the states. That’s why the bill ended up initially being put on the fridge. After the growth of inflation and the public demand of Lira, the president of the Senate decided to articulate to advance the proposals and try to contain new highs.

In this context, the previous version of the Prates report was milder: in addition to leaving the change to the states, the text maintained the option of fixing percentage rates of ICMS on the price (the model called “ad valorem”).

PT now accepts to resume the adoption of the fixed charge model per liter, following an amendment by the son of the President of the Republic, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), an indication that the negotiation of the final text involved the political wing of the government. . Furthermore, it imposes a consequence on governors if they resist change.

Currently, ICMS is calculated based on a reference price, known as PMPF (weighted average price to the final consumer), reviewed every 15 days according to a price survey at gas stations. The rates for each fuel are applied to this value.

Despite the changes, the PT senator did not include any provision to allow the federal government to exempt taxes on diesel without having to raise others to comply with the requirements of the LRF (Fiscal Responsibility Law). The inclusion of this device has been negotiated by the Bolsonaro government.

In addition to the ICMS proposal, another project in progress, also under the rapporteurship of Jean Paul, provides for the creation of a stabilization account whose resources will be used to cushion large fluctuations in prices. To fund this initiative, a tax on the export of oil and derivatives would be created.

The bill that deals with the ICMS on fuel was initially scheduled to be voted on on Wednesday (16), but ended up being withdrawn from the agenda after a meeting between Jean Paul, Lira and the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) .

Lira did not accept the changes made by Jean Paul, who had disregarded the text of the Chamber of Deputies. The hypothesis was raised that there was no agreement so that the proposal – which needs to go through the Chamber again, due to having undergone changes – could advance and could go to the sanction of President Jair Bolsonaro.

The new version of the report appears, therefore, as an attempt to build consensus so that the text can be approved in both legislative houses.

Jean Paul Prates also maintained in the new version the perspective of expanding the reach of Auxílio Gás to serve 11 million families, equivalent to twice the current number of beneficiaries.

The text argues that it would be necessary to double the program’s budget, with another R$ 1.9 billion. The rapporteur pointed out as a source for this increase the resources arising from subscription bonuses from the Sépia and Atapu fields, in the pre-salt layer.

UNDERSTAND THE PROPOSALS TO REDUCE FUEL PRICES

In the camera

PEC still without number (did not gather enough signatures)

• Author: Deputy Christino Áureo (PP-RJ), who presented a text formulated by the Civil House

• What it provides: Union, states and municipalities may, in 2022 and 2023, reduce or eliminate taxes on fuel and gas without compensation; extrafiscal taxes (such as IPI, IOF and Cide) may also be reduced in 2022 and 2023, not only on fuel and gas

• Impact: BRL 54 billion, according to government calculations

in the senate

PEC 1/2022

• Author: Senator Carlos Fávaro (PSD-MT), with the support of the President of the House, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG)

• What it provides: allows, in 2022 and 2023, to reduce federal, state and municipal taxes on the prices of diesel, biodiesel, gas and electric energy, without compensation for the loss of revenue; allows the reduction of other taxes of an extrafiscal nature (such as IPI, IOF and Cide); authorizes the Union to create, in 2022 and 2023, a diesel aid of up to R$ 1,200 per month to self-employed truck drivers; it also allows the expansion of Auxílio Gás, in number of families and in subsidized value (50% to 100% of the value of the cylinder); authorizes transfers of up to BRL 5 billion to municipalities to subsidize free access to seniors and avoid a significant increase in tariffs

• Impact: More than BRL 100 billion, according to government calculations

PLP 11/2020

• Rapporteur: Senator Jean Paul Prates (PT)

• What it provides: provides for the adoption of a single ICMS rate on fuel, with a fixed charge per liter (today, the charge is a percentage of the price); until the regulation of the new rule, states are obliged to charge ICMS on diesel on a calculation basis that results from the average price over the last five years; Senator included expansion of Auxílio Gás, for 11 million families; government wants to include in this project the exemption of diesel

PL 1472/2021

• Rapporteur: Senator Jean Paul Prates

• What it foresees: creation of a kind of fund to be used to stabilize fuel prices; resources would come from a tax on the export of oil and derivatives