Source: Portal of the Chamber of Deputies (DF), 23/06/2009

In the leadership of the government, the leader, Henrique Fontana (C), said that he intends to speed up negotiations to approve the reform. The government leader, Henrique Fontana (PT-RS), will defend, in a meeting with the other leaders of the allied base scheduled for this Wednesday (24), at noon, the beginning of the vote on the Tax Reform (PEC 31 / 07 and joined) in Plenary next week.

The idea is not to vote on the text immediately - not least because it faces resistance, even within the allied base itself -, but only to discuss it and speed up negotiations. To approve the proposal, 308 favorable votes are required.

For the president of the Parliamentary Front of Health, Darcísio Perondi (PMDB-RS), however, who is from the allied base, the government will have difficulty even to put the matter on the agenda, because, according to him, the matter is not consensual between the leaders.

Deputy Darcisio Perondi said he does not believe in the vote on the tax reform proposal, as it is today.

“We want to vote on the reform. We even have an agreement that was made at the end of last year, that this vote would take place without obstruction, making disputes, voting against, voting in favor, making highlights, so on ”, Henrique said Fontana, after a meeting to discuss the matter.

Opposition

The opposition did not attend the meeting. "There is no new proposal from the government, so there was nothing to discuss," explained Democrats leader Ronaldo Caiado (GO).

PPS leader Fernando Coruja (SC) has a similar opinion. “The government did not set out to debate and negotiate. He just wants us to go to the meeting to take a picture and look like we are agreeing with the reform that was put in place ”, he criticized.

For Coruja, “this is not the right time to discuss tax reform at the end of a government. The government wants to reform the other government. He should have done a renovation in the beginning, but he was not interested in doing it ”.

Regarding the obstruction resource, Ronaldo Caiado was adamant. “We will decide whether or not we will obstruct within a strategy to protect the Brazilian citizen. "Whenever the government wants to stick a big hand in the taxpayer 's pocket, it will have to face opposition," he said.

Henrique Fontana waved new concessions to the oppositionists. “Next week we will start this vote. And if, in the middle of this journey, the opposition decides to contribute to the text of the tax reform, we will be open to welcome the negotiation ”, he affirmed.

Political issues

The tax reform reporter, Mr Sandro Mabel (PR-GO), more skeptical, criticized the opposition's stance to avoid the debate. "For political reasons, we do not discuss a reform that lowers taxes spectacularly, especially for those who earn less," he said.

“If we do not pass this reform, tomorrow in the electoral campaign, people will say: Lula did not reform, he did not solve the problem of regressivity [greater concentration of the tax burden on the range of taxpayers with lower income]. The opposition read the proposal, found it very good and did not want to vote ”, evaluated Mabel.

Disagreements

What hinders the tax reform is not so much what is intended with it - since government and opposition talk about simplification, reduction of the tax burden, exemption from the payroll and investments and end of the fiscal war.

The problem is that, while Mabel and leaders of the allied base believe that, after grafting to serve governors, mayors, segments of the productive sector, the text is ready to solve all these problems, the opposition thinks exactly the opposite.

“This proposal constitutes [in excess] the tax legislation. The Constitution has only to take care of the basic principles that will direct the life of the nation ”, affirmed Caiado.

“At no time did the government make a commitment to reduce the tax burden. On the contrary, all spreadsheets [with projections from the proposal's rules] signal that it will increase, ”said the Democratic leader. For him, the “backbone” of an adequate tax reform would be the cut in the proportion of the society's income collected to the public coffers.

Government rebates

“The question I ask - which opposition should an answer to Brazil for being absent from the negotiating table this past week - is whether it is good or bad for the country [to approve] a reform that removes six percentage points of taxation on the payroll payment, which exempts investments, especially in machinery and equipment, which reduces the tax burden for those who earn less, ”counters Henrique Fontana.

A substitute for Sandro Mabel's tax reform proposed by the government [PEC 233/08] and other projects on the matter was approved in a special commission in November last year. The matter did not make it to the Plenary because the opposition, at the time, obstructed the agenda. The strategy was only abandoned when the allied base agreed to postpone voting on the proposal until March this year.

Reportage - Edvaldo Fernandes and Alexandre Pôrto
Edition - Newton Araújo