States analyze alternative to avoid unification of ICMS on diesel

The Secretary of Finance of Rio de Janeiro, Nelson Rocha, said this Thursday (17) that state governments are studying an alternative to prevent the unification of ICMS on diesel from causing an increase in the tax burden in states that have a lower rate, such as Rio and Sao Paulo.

According to him, the idea is to establish as a single rate the value equivalent to the maximum percentage used by the states, currently at 18%, and to allow, in agreement with Confaz (National Council for Finance Policy), the granting of a tax benefit on fuel.

Thus, each state could charge an amount equivalent to the rate it currently charges. Rocha argues that the alternative does not violate Complementary Law 192, since it would establish a common rate, as provided for in the text. Granting tax benefits, he says, is a prerogative of Confaz agreements.

“I would be meeting LC 192 and at the same time would not have an increase in the tax burden for the diesel consumer”, he says.

With ICMS of 12%, Rio would have to increase the tax burden by defining a higher unified rate. “A law that was intended to try to minimize a problem for the taxpayer ends up having the opposite effect”, questioned the secretary.

The alternative proposal was discussed at a meeting of the finance secretaries this Thursday, but it is still embryonic. States have until the end of the month to define a single rate on diesel.

Otherwise, the law provides that ICMS will be charged on the average price of the last five years and not on the current price until the end of 2022 or the definition of the unified rate, which must occur, at most, until the end of the year. year.

An estimate by the IFI (Independent Fiscal Institution) points out that the collection of the tax by the average represents a loss of collection of R$ 13.3 billion: R$ 10 billion for state governments and R$ 3.3 billion for municipalities, which receive ICMS transfers.

The government of Rio also defends that the states adjust the average prices of the last five years for inflation, which would reduce losses with the adoption of the system, if the unified rate is not defined by the end of the month.

“The best solution is to take the moving average of the last 60 months updated by inflation. With that we managed to reduce the loss. Even so, the loss is around 10%, but it would be much greater without the correction”, he said.

In Comsefaz (National Committee of Secretaries of Finance), the proposal is viewed with suspicion, since the law passed by Congress does not provide for the correction of values.

At the end of this Thursday’s meeting, Comsefaz released a note saying that the collegiate “understood the need to further detail the consequences of some provisions of the LC [lei complementar]” and, therefore, a new meeting with the technical teams was scheduled.

This Friday (18) and next Monday (21), the committee promotes meetings with a working group that will study proposals and evaluate legal aspects of the regulation of the law.