Instituto Combustível Legal sees an increase in illegalities in the sector with the entry of organized crime and defends projects to toughen penalties and simplify taxation
The fuel sector records a loss of almost R$30 billion per year with losses for companies and public coffers due to fuel evasion and adulteration practices. The president of ICL (Legal Fuel Institute), Emerson Kapaz69 years old, states that illegalities have been growing, especially due to the entry of organized crime into the segment.
Kapaz says that there have been advances in recent years in the fight against tax evasion, especially with the implementation of the single phase for diesel and gasoline in 2023. The tax system collects all the tax at the beginning of the chain, reducing the chances of fraud in the following links. However, this does not yet exist for ethanol.
In an interview with Power360, Kapaz defended that projects be approved in Congress to toughen penalties for persistent debtors and also introduce single-phase taxation for ethanol. Another need, according to him, is an integrated and planned action by security forces in the sector against organized crime.
“There is a strong entry of organized crime into the sector. We detected a criminal network entering with great force, conquering spaces. This was very limited and today it grows with the tentacles of an octopus. It has already left São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and is heading to the Northeast and, in some cases, also to states in the Central-West”he stated.
One way to combat tax evasion would be to approve the persistent debtor's project. There is a text stalled in the Senate and another in the Chamber, and this should be voted on in the next few days. Kapaz states that the fuel sector is one of those that suffers most from the practice, which creates unfair competition and harms good businesspeople.
“We are fighting hard to approve the bill for persistent debtors, which is the company that always evades. In other words, it is not a delay that she has, that she renegotiates the debt, settles it and then pays again. She enters the sector to cheat and compete without paying anything.”he said.
As for adulterations, among the most common on the market today, according to Kapaz, are “chip in the bomb” and the methanol mixture. The 1st consists of defrauding gas station pumps to deliver less fuel to the consumer than the amount that appears on the screen and is charged. For example: the customer orders 30 liters and pays for it, but only gets 25.
The 2nd consists of adding methanol (also known as methyl alcohol) to fuels such as ethanol and gasoline. “This is serious because methanol is a serious chemical product for health, which can even cause blindness to the gas station attendant or anyone who comes into contact with it”explains.
Emerson Kapaz also says that one of the ICL's main battles is to end the white bomb. It is the possibility that a station with a flag (specific brand) has a separate pump that can receive fuel from any brand.
“When the white bomb arrived, the adulterated fuel sales chart jumped. So much so that in Minas Gerais, the Public Ministry filed a lawsuit and suspended the white bomb in the Triângulo Mineiro region in court. The ANP filed an appeal to maintain. So we see that judicially at some point this white bomb will fall”it says.
Watch the full interview with Emerson Kapaz (22min15s):
SINGLE PHASE FOR ETHANOL
According to Emerson Kapaz, the biggest fraud bottleneck in the sector currently is biofuels. Among the examples cited is the sale of diesel without the mandatory blend of 14% biodiesel, which is more expensive, and the sale of gasoline with an ethanol content above the permitted level (27.5%), reaching 80% in some cases. cases.
The form of ethanol taxation, without a single phase (charge at the beginning of the chain), also opens up an opportunity for tax evasion. “Our main priority is the approval of single-phase ethanol, which already exists in diesel and gasoline. This was approved in the tax reform, but it only starts in 2032. We need to anticipate this”it says.
The Legal Combustible Institute will prepare, in partnership with the Only (Sugarcane Industry Union), a bill to implement the system also in fuel. Kapaz's expectation is that the text will begin to be processed in Congress in 2024.
“Initially, there was resistance in the ethanol sector and some producers thought this was difficult to control. Today there is already a membership and a union between Unica to present a bill. We have a proposal already under discussion to, in the same vein as the change in gasoline and diesel, now use ethanol”he states.
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