Source: Gazeta Mercantil, 03/04/2009

Interview with Viviane Monteiro

 

The Federal Revenue expects to collect R $ 485 billion in taxes this year, similar to last year, according to the Treasury Secretary, Lina Maria Vieira. This result will be achieved despite the international financial crisis that, in the secretary's assessment, is responsible for the stagnation in tax collection that had been growing in the last six years.

 

To reinforce cash this year, given the adverse economic situation and the increase in government spending, the secretary warns that she will reinforce the inspection to combat tax evasion and the smuggling of goods. According to her, the increase in the rates of PIS / Confins, in more than 70% in the retail sector, and IPI, in 23,5%, aims to give the guarantee to the government to fulfill the goal of the primary surplus of 3,8% this year. year. In order to guarantee an increase in tax revenues from the cigarette sector, it is negotiating with the government of Paraguay to implement the electronic invoice, a tax inspection tool for the sector.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - What is the Federal Revenue's strategy to increase revenue this year and compensate for lost revenue?

Lina Maria Vieira - Our focus is to remove that plastered inspection that we had in the past, aimed at employees and medical expenses. Not that this is less important and our system will also do that part. However, our workforce will be directed during this year to the inspection of large taxpayers, jointly with the state finance departments in combating tax evasion. This is a major change in the focus of inspection by the Federal Revenue Service.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - What is the collection goal this year?

Lina Maria Vieira - Our forecast is R $ 485 billion and was built at the Ministry of Finance, together with the Economic Policy Secretariat, which provides the indicators for the preparation of the collection forecast for 2009.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - - Is it possible for the government to make a new budget cut this year, above the R $ 21 billion already announced, in order to balance the accounts?

Lina Maria Vieira - Anything can happen. This will depend on how much we managed to warm up the economy this year, to improve the collection so that we can pay the payroll, the PAC (Growth Acceleration Program), and investments.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - Will the increase in cigarettes make up for only part of the exemptions made recently?

Lina Maria Vieira - The increase in the IPI and PIS / COFINS tax rates for cigarettes was to respond to the exemptions made for construction material, vehicles and motorcycles. The increase in the cigarette tax rate is exactly for the Ministry of Finance to comply with the Fiscal Responsibility Law.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - But the increase in cigarette tax rates does not cover 100% of the exemptions made from R $ 3,075 billion. Since the cigarette increase is only R $ 976 million this year?

Lina Maria Vieira - The accounts we have done show that the increase in cigarette tax rates covers all the tax exemptions made. Perhaps you are taking into account the impact of the IPI, which is a regulatory tax and is therefore excluded from these accounts. And excluding the IPI, the increase in cigarette tax rates covers exemptions. We were not going to put the (Finance) minister in this situation, of not complying with the Fiscal Responsibility Law.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - To what extent is the international financial crisis responsible for the drop in tax revenues?

Lina Maria Vieira - In all points. If economic activity falls, tax revenues fall on companies' revenues. And if there is no profitability, there is no collection.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - What is the minimum lag for the tax exemption to return to the Treasury coffers as a collection?

Lina Maria Vieira - We gave the IPI three months of exemption for the automobile sector and we had a very satisfactory result, such as job maintenance, sales growth. So it was extended for another three months. The government's concern is with maintaining jobs. See the satisfactory results in relation to the relief measures adopted. And in this six-month period, the government expects the economy to recover. The problem with the crisis is that it is a global context, it is not a problem in Brazil. Brazil has taken adequate measures, so I believe that we will be able to get out of this crisis well.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - - Are there measures under study, also, for the export sector?

Lina Maria Vieira - Exports now come under the regulation of Integrated Drawback, something that had been dragging on for some time, and will greatly facilitate the lives of exporters. We signed the Integrated Drawback ordinance on Wednesday. This will help the export sector a lot, because we suspended the rates of IPI, PIS / Confins so that the industry buys the inputs consumed in the preparation or industrialization of the product to be exported. This will make the life of the exporter much easier. In addition, the IRS has intensified the analysis of tax credit reimbursement processes - at the request of the minister (Finance, Guido Mantega). This work was intensified to verify the quality of these credits. It is a time-consuming process, as our auditors audit to verify the quality of these credits.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - - How is the quality of these tax credits. Are returns happening?

Lina Maria Vieira - The audits found that 57% of the processes are converted into debts. In other words, 57% of what the taxpayer informs that he has credit does not actually have. For this reason, the inspection work in verifying the quality of these credits informed by the taxpayer is important. In view of the result, we are changing this focus and strengthening our special police stations in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to inspect large taxpayers. There are two in São Paulo and one in Rio de Janeiro. We will double the number of auditors in both units to 150 auditors, to strengthen our structure.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - Is there still room for the IRS to make new tax breaks in the economy?

Lina Maria Vieira - We have two limits, one is an institutional politician. That is, as for the Federation it supports. We have another, the technical and economic limit, which is how much each sector needs. In the case of the Federation, it supports what is determined by article 14 Law of Fiscal Responsibility, which says that for each exemption made it is necessary to present a source of revenue or a cut of expenditure. This is our limit. As for the limit that the sectors need exemption from, the MDIC (Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade), with its sectoral chambers, together with the Secretariat of Economic Policy, of the Ministry of Finance, manage to calibrate this more, being that each sector economic situation has a different reality, it has its specificities.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - - In view of the increase in cigarette tax rates, this industry wants to make a change in the calculation of the collection of IPI, as it claims that there is distortion in the collection. Does the IRS intend to make a change to this?

Lina Maria Vieira - Several meetings were held here with the sector to try to present a model that would suit everyone. We need to understand that the incidence of the “ad rem” rate (0,65 per cigarette class), in relation to the IPI, is the same for all types of cigarettes, regardless of the packaging. The “ad rem” rate is to combat negative externalities, that is, the damage that cigarettes cause to health. In this case, we cannot give beneficial treatment to small cigarette producing companies, as we do with Simples Nacional, for example. PIS / Cofins and ICMS are levied on the price of the product. And in this case, it is different.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - What will the IRS do to inhibit the increase in cigarette smuggling due to the increase in tax rates?

Lina Maria Vieira - We will intensify the inspection to avoid smuggling from neighboring countries, because when the rate is increased we always have to intensify the inspection. The IRS is already prepared together with several actors in this process. They are the organs of the health area, Federal Police, Inmetro, to prevent the entry of these products in the national territory. It is a set of organs that will face the fight against smuggling. In February alone, we had seizures on our border with Paraguay of almost 4 million packs of cigarettes, equivalent to almost R $ 2 billion. It is a job that the IRS has always done. In addition, we have held meetings with the staff of the Paraguayan Finance Secretariat to modernize the Paraguayan industry with the issuance of the electronic invoice. In Brazil, we have some control mechanisms. We have an instrument that counts in the cigarette industry, we have the electronic invoice. And we ask Paraguay to adopt these measures there.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - Would this technology be exported there?

Lina Maria Vieira - They (Paraguayans) made an appointment with the Casa da Moeda to get to know the cigarette control stamps. And we opened all the spaces for them to know how the control tools work in Brazil. We scheduled a visit to an industry and showed the whole system for them to know how it works in Brazil and take it to Paraguay. They want the tax regime to be implemented quickly. But we cannot, in spite of this, weaken the national industry and the jobs of Brazilians, allowing this to happen without Paraguay being properly prepared. This could reduce smuggling from Brazil, as most of them come from Paraguay.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - And the tax evasion of Brazilian companies?

Lina Maria Vieira - Historically there are companies here that do not act correctly. They do not collect taxes and therefore are able to place products at a lower price in the square, establishing unfair competition. These prices unbalance market competition, many operate with court decisions. We are doing work with the IRS, the National Treasury and the Judiciary to overturn the injunctions that still apply. We still have six industries that operate supported by judicial decisions that harm manufacturers who comply with their obligations. We have already managed to reduce this market by 17% in 2007 to 13% in 2008. This represents 250 million portfolios that have stopped circulating in the market without paying taxes. The annual loss caused by national manufacturers was reduced from R $ 695 million to R $ 510 million, which is very positive.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - Did you think you would face this moment of crisis in the IRS?

Lina Maria Vieira - In August, we still had no news that there would be a crisis, although many books written in the past already predicted the existence of the bubble. But nobody expected this. The country was doing well, growing economically. The Stock Exchange with a positive result. Another challenge. But I have had a very large partnership with all tax administrations, at the three levels of government, since I took office (July 2008), with states and municipalities. We understand that the IRS has to be a servant organization. We need to take a closer look at the Brazilian federation. All tax administrations, since September, are going through difficult times. In other words, a drop in economic activity as a result of a drop in tax revenues. And all the governments with all their commitments, not just the investments that were announced by the federal government, by the state governments, the new mayors taking on a very complicated situation. So I think that the tax administrations are going through a very difficult moment, they are being very requested to meet and minimize the effects of the crisis. And with that, our tax analysis team has been working day and night to meet government demands to minimize this situation.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - Is there a need for the Federal Revenue to reinforce the inspection structure?

Lina Maria Vieira - We have news that there will be public tenders. We made an order with the President of the Republic and put the need for an increase in the number of auditors, analysts and administrative staff. The administrative contest has already been released and should be held in May. As for analysts, we are waiting for the last meetings with the Planning Secretariat to close. We will also reinforce the structure at the borders, which is the determination of the President of the Republic. For this, we need the partnership of all the agencies that interact in the entry and exit of goods and people in the national territory.

 

GAZETA MERCANTIL - Is the reinforcement in the revenue structure sufficient to balance the accounts this year?

Lina Maria Vieira - This balance is not the responsibility of the tax authorities alone. The government has to spend well and reduce spending, this is the responsibility of all ministries. Each ministry would have to analyze where cuts could be made. The Revenue works with the scenario of numbers, the behavior of the collection. And the minister (of Finance) calibrates the needs of the economy. All the work we have been doing, since last year, as in exemptions, focuses on the sectors in which the government understands that they are a priority in terms of receiving aid. Such as vehicles, construction.