01/10/2024 – 12:06
Payroll relief continues to be one of the government's main economic agendas at the beginning of this year. On Tuesday, the 9th, the Minister of Labor and Employment, Luiz Marinho, stated that the matter will be discussed with business leaders in February, adding that he has time until April to expand the dialogue on the topic.
Also on Tuesday, the minister met with representatives of trade unions alongside the Secretary of Economic Policy of the Ministry of Finance, Guilherme Mello.
“It’s the beginning of a process. In the government’s view, the issue of tax relief is wrong, and direction is needed,” stated Marinho. “We show data to the centers. We will propose an agenda to business leaders in February regarding repayment.”
+ Pacheco says he will only decide on MP after listening to Haddad
The government's economic team defends the provisional measure presented at the end of last year that changes the payroll tax exemption and provides for the gradual extinction of the benefit by 2027. “We started the dialogue and will have a table in February to unify the debate with workers and the business sector”, stated Mello. “I think Congress and Pacheco (Rodrigo Pacheco, president of the Senate) will have the sensitivity not to return the MP for the reinstatement.”
To date, nine parliamentary fronts linked to productive sectors have already sent a letter to Pacheco asking for the provisional measure to be returned. The president of the Senate stated, in turn, that he will listen to the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, before deciding on the MP.
Participating in the meeting, the president of the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT), Sérgio Nobre, stated that the unions are open to discussing alternatives to exemption and that it is important to deliver a consensus proposal between the government, workers and companies to Congress. “We raised concerns about worker insecurity about dismissal. We await data on the exemption and will speak to the business sector”, he said.
Provisional Measure
In addition to revoking the payroll tax relief policy, the MP also extinguished the Emergency Program for the Resumption of the Events Sector (Perse) and established a limit for tax compensations in the event of a victory by companies against the Tax Authorities.
The exemption was instituted in 2011, during the Dilma Rousseff (PT) government, and has since been extended. The program would end in 2023, but, by decision of Congress, it was extended until 2027.
The Treasury's main argument against extending the exemption is that the cost, estimated at R$16 billion this year, is not included in the Budget. Without the revocation, according to the ministry, it will be necessary to look for other sources of revenue and, ultimately, review the zero deficit target promised by Haddad.
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