Source: JB Online, 22/06/2009

RIO DE JANEIRO - The tax reform project in the Chamber of Deputies is not ideal for industry, but it is in the right direction and defends the principles of simplification and clarity, said today (22) the director of Economic Development of the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan), Luciana Marques de Sá.
Luciana stated that the industry supports the project and defends transparency, so that consumers know how much they are paying in tax. The rapporteur of the project, deputy Sandro Mabel (PR-GO), who today participated in a meeting at Firjan, undertook to present the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) of Transparency.

According to the Transparency PEC, the Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) will be calculated “on the outside”, and not as it is today, “on the inside”, that is, on the basis of the tax itself.

- In practice, it does not reduce anything in the tax. It only gives more visibility to the size of the tax - explained Mabel.

The deputy said that, with such visibility, it will be possible to approve this point, which would be unfeasible within the tax reform. The proposal that is in the Chamber provides for the unification of all state ICMS by product.

According to Luciana de Sá, in this way, the rates that fall on products are clear, facilitating consumer knowledge. "The effective ICMS rates and the new Value Added Tax [VAT], provided for in the tax reform, will be made explicit to the consumer".

The transition period for exemption from investment, which, according to Luciana, also concerned the industrial sector, was set at eight years.

"It is worse to be stuck in the situation we are in today," he said.

Firjan is defining a strategy to pressure the Chamber to vote on tax reform before the parliamentary recess begins on July 17. “Young leaders are wanting to make this move, but the strategy is still being defined.” Luciana pointed out that there is a possibility for the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp) to act together with Firjan in this mobilization.