Finance Minister gave a lecture on “economic challenges and political perspectives in Brazil” at USP
Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said on Friday (20.Sep.2024) that “those who benefited from tax incentives are the first to demand fiscal balance”. He made the statement during the lecture “The challenges of the Economy and the perspectives of Politics in Brazil”, held at USP, in São Paulo.
“The funniest thing is that those who benefited from tax incentives are the first to demand fiscal balance. So everyone wants fiscal balance, as long as it doesn’t affect theirs, it’s that simple in Brazil. Editorials, fiscal balance, it has to be there. But look, we’re going to cut that benefit from you. No, that’s an acquired right. Every benefit in Brazil is an acquired right.”said the PT member.
The statement suggests that Haddad is talking about reducing payroll taxes in 17 sectors of the economy. The measure had been approved by the Senate in August, by the Chamber of Deputies in September and sanctioned by the president. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) on September 16. One of the sectors that benefited is communications and includes companies that own media outlets – hence the reason why the minister cited the “editorials” of newspapers in their statement.
Watch the full event with Haddad at USP (2h):
Haddad was the target of criticism from some people present at the lecture. He mentioned a young man’s poster that read: “below the fiscal framework”. He said that the mechanism could be better than it is, but that in order to approve it it was necessary “make a deal” in Congress to replace the spending cap.
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“It’s interesting to note that there was a guy here with a sign saying ‘Down with the fiscal framework’. Let’s understand, could the fiscal framework be better than it is? There’s no doubt about it. But when people disconnect what was approved by this Congress from what it replaced, because the complementary law that established the fiscal framework came into effect to replace the spending cap. And people promote a disconnect between one thing and the other. People have difficulty understanding that you have to negotiate in the National Congress to replace the spending cap, which was in the Federal Constitution, not that it was in a law that you send a provisional measure and resolve.”
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