Figures are from the first half of 2024; the government reestablished taxation in the period, but defined exemption quotas that were not 100% consumed
The federal government failed to collect more than R$ 1 billion in the 1st half of 2024 with the tax benefit policy (tax exemption) for the import of hybrid and electric cars. The survey was carried out by Poder360 based on data from Mdic (Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services).
Electric cars have not had import tax since 2015. But in January of this year, the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) started charging again, but only after the entry of foreign vehicles reached a certain volume. The quotas were not reached. Therefore, not a single cent of revenue entered the public coffers.
The tax on importing combustion cars is 35%. Electric and hybrid vehicles will also be taxed at this rate from 2026. If the tax were already in effect, imports of R$ 2.97 billion in the 1st semester they would have yielded R$ 1 billion to the public coffers.
Data on the import of electrified cars and the consumption of quotas in the first half of the year were extracted from a table produced by Secex (Secretariat of Foreign Trade), of the Mdic. Here is the full (PDF – 297 kB). The document was taken offline by Secex.
Three models of electrified cars were considered:
- Electrical (acronym 8703.80.00);
- Hybrids (acronym 8703.40.00);
- Plug in hybrids (acronym 8703.60.00).
Other models of electrified vehicles, such as motorcycles or trucks, were not considered because they represent different sectors or have very limited sales.
Taxation
Taxation, in theory, was reestablished in January of this year for electrified vehicles. Each modality has a different rate that evolves every semester until reaching 35% in July 2026. Here is the taxation used in the first semester of this year:
- electric – 10%;
- plug in hybrid – 12%;
- hybrid – 15%.
The problem is that this tax only starts to be applied after the car import quota is exceeded. Until then, there is no tax. In the first half of the year, none of the three quotas were exceeded. Therefore, there was no revenue. Here are the quotas for the first half of the year:
- electric – US$ 283 million.
- plug in hybrid – US$ 226 million;
- hybrid – US$ 130 million;
When asked, the Mdic said that the import tax is not “collection“According to the agency, “the import tax is parafiscal” and “has a regulatory character“.
In July, there was a new increase in taxes. At the same time, a new quota was established for the import of electrified vehicles. Here are the new rates and quotas for each model:
- electric (18%) – US$ 226 million;
- plug-in hybrid (20%) – US$ 169 million;
- hybrid (25%) – US$ 97 million.
In other words: even with the tax increase, there is no guarantee that there will be revenue in the second half of this year. If the quotas are not met, again not a single cent will reach the public coffers.
Chinese explosion
China took the lead in car sales in Brazil in the first half of 2024. There were 129,933 vehicles sold from January to June – an increase of 717% compared to the same period the previous year. Not all of them were electric. In total, more than half of the electric cars in Brazil come from China.
The quantity represents 57.5% of the total number of passenger cars imported by Brazil in the period. It is also more than triple (212.1%) the amount sold by Argentina (41,628 units).
With this result, the Chinese overtook Argentina, until then the biggest seller of cars to Brazil.
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