Source: Paraná Online - Curitiba / PR - COLUMNS - 14/05/2010

On January 09, 2009, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sanctioned that which, at first, would be an important tool to combat informal trade in the border region: Law 11.898, better known as the “Sacoleiros Law”.

To arrive at the Official Gazette of the Union, the “Law of Sacoleiros”, like all legal initiatives, faced a slow process of discussions, lobbying, adjustment, suspension of processing, shelving, analysis of commissions, votes, modifications and much hope created over the course of the year. tortuous path started in 2006.

Contrary to what everyone expected, however, the publication of the law did not mean the final whistle. Since then, the game has continued, with the team that plays in the rear and has catfish heads like "Bureaucracy" and "Bad Will", winning by rout.

On Thursday, representatives of the governments of Brazil and Paraguay met in Asunción to discuss outstanding points on the application of the Unified Taxation Regime (RTU) created by the new law, which despite being Brazilian, also depends on counterparts from the Paraguayan government .

Such counterparts include, among other measures, the implementation of a data transmission system between the customs offices of both countries, to verify, in real time, the legality of the notes presented; standardization of invoice models; and topics related to the clearance of goods.

The bad news brought by the meeting, which counted with the participation of the executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Nelson Machado, and representatives of the Federal Revenue of Brazil, is that the RTU will not be put into practice before the month of October.

This is because, recently for the months of August and September, the Revenue expects to register the sacoleiros who choose to open micro-importers (included in the Simples Nacional), will have an annual quota of R $ 110 thousand and a single federal rate of 25%, to then announce news.

Until then, everything remains as it is: clandestine prosperity, Revenue breaking record of seizures and rivers of money being invested in repression, while the “Law of Sacoleiros” does not find, as much as interest to many, a legal port to disembark.

Short of the day:

* In contact with this columnist, reader Antonio Carlos made an interesting observation about attempts at industrialization on the border: “Foz already has industries installed there, didn't you know? That of transporting smuggled cigarettes across the bridge, that of delivering goods to hotels and others, which need not even be named. Is Foz industrialized or not? ”. Unfortunately, in the opinion of many, the answer is yes.

* Scare in the center of Ciudad del Este with the fire beginning in the basement of Shopping Internacional, one of the most frequented by Brazilian shoppers who visit the border. The cause of the incident, according to the Voluntary Fire Brigade of the Paraguayan city, would have been a short caused by a hair dryer forgotten in the socket. As a precaution, the building was closed until further notice.

* The press of the Rio Grande do Sul press when reporting that drug dealer Juraci Oliveira da Silva, Jura, imprisoned in Paraguay with a false identity, presented himself as Arnaldo Moreira de Macedo in the neighboring country. Macedo, also known for the use of false names, is another Brazilian trafficker and he has even been arrested, convicted and is in the process of being extradited to Brazil.