Minister argues that the trajectory of fiscal targets will depend on the compensation of tax waivers with the 17 sectors
The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddadcalled this Wednesday (September 4, 2024) the beneficiaries of the payroll tax relief of the 17 sectors of “national champions”. In an interview with Globonews, he conditioned the fulfillment of fiscal targets for the coming years on the approval of measures that compensate for the tax waiver for these companies.
“The Supreme Court has decided that the extension of the payroll tax exemption for national champions must be compensated”he said. “If we have compensation for the tax relief, whose re-taxation will be staggered, we have no reason to review the trajectory [de metas] outlined by the Ministry of Finance when we stipulated the new fiscal framework”he completed.
There are 17 sectors that, according to government calculations in the Ploa (2025 Budget Bill), will cost a tax break of R$55 billion by 2027. According to the government, almost R$29 billion in exemptions are uncovered by compensation – revenue to finance the loss in revenue.
The government Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) established with Congress that the tax waiver will decrease until 2027 until the tax benefit ends completely.
Haddad also praised the Judiciary. He said that it has measured “much more the economic consequences of their decisions”. He stated that the victories in the STF (Supreme Federal Court) and STJ (Superior Court of Justice) removed R$1.4 trillion from the fiscal risk map of the PLDO (Budget Guidelines Bill) of 2025.
He stated that the Supreme Court ruled that Congress must respect the LRF (Fiscal Responsibility Law) “as much as the Executive”. He also said that the STF is sponsoring an agreement between the Executive and Legislative branches on parliamentary amendments, “which, everything indicates, will have to respect the fiscal framework”.
And completes: “These measures are not palliative, they are structural. They are very important for the country’s institutionality”.
PUBLIC EXPENDITURE
Haddad said the government is “disciplining” the country and “harmonizing” the 3 Powers to put order in the accounts. He stated that the Ministry of Planning and Budget is in the process of ““spending review”.
“All rules being maintained, mandatory spending will consume discretionary spending, so we will have to have a debate about this.”he declared. The minister agreed with journalist Valdo Cruz when he said that the topic is unpopular. “You cannot leave those at the bottom unprotected. You will not make a rule that will harm health, education and social rights. It has to be very well thought out. There is a lot of work to be done that is independent of this. We are doing very important review work to give more consistency to social programs that are going well, but that need specific adjustments.”he said.
The federal government announced at the end of August a thorough review of public spending on social programs. The idea is to cut those who should not receive the benefits. Lula has been urged since the beginning of his government to adopt measures to reduce the trajectory of expenses.
#Haddad #calls #beneficiaries #tax #relief #champions
