Source: Panorama Brasil - São Paulo / SP - 05/10/2010

BRASÍLIA - The rapporteur of the tax reform project (PECs 233/08, 31/07 and others), deputy Sandro Mabel (PR-GO), hopes that the tax reform will enter the list of priority topics for the next president of the Republic and the new governors. Among the main points of the proposal, which was approved by a special commission in 2008, are the unification of the 27 ICMS laws and the creation of the Federal Value Added Tax (VAT-F) - from the merger of PIS / Pasep, of Cofins and the contribution to education wages.

“The problem is that tax reform is a very difficult issue, which few people can understand. There is no popular pressure for tax reform, as the general population does not realize how much they pay in tax ”, argues Sandro Mabel. He states that those who earn up to three minimum wages have a tax burden of 54%, while those who earn more than 30 wages have a 31% tax burden.

Other important points of the text are exemption from food, hygiene products, cleaning and popular consumption with the excess of collection and the incorporation of the Social Contribution on Profit (CSLL) to the Corporate Income Tax (IRPJ).

Load reduction

Deputy Alfredo Kaefer (PSDB-PR) states that reducing the tax burden is more urgent than the reform itself. However, he agrees that the inauguration of new governors is a good opportunity to put new rules on the agenda for taxpayers. “It is in the first year of government that there is a climate for great changes, but there is no point in reforming it if it does not have an impact on the citizen's pocket”, he says.

Kaefer argues that a long and arduous tax reform is not necessary for taxes to weigh less in the citizen's pocket. He presented a Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) that limits the burden of taxes to 25% of GDP.

“There is no point in reforming if it does not impact the citizen's pocket. Otherwise, time is wasted bureaucratizing the rule without reducing what needs to be paid in tax ”, he argues. For him, the amount that needs to be paid in taxes inhibits the country's growth and reduces its competitiveness.

Insecurity

In the assessment of tax lawyer Luiz Roberto Peroba, who followed the discussions on the preparation of the tax reform proposal, the urgency of the reform is due to the legal uncertainty generated by the existing tax system. “The amount of taxes is so great that people cannot understand and do not know if they are paying what they owe,” he says.

For him, the simplification of the model, in addition to reducing tax evasion, will imply a better distribution of income. Peroba defends a broader base for tax incidence, which today is concentrated in few activities. Peroba also understands that if the tax reform is not listed among the government's priorities, the proposal will not succeed. “Whenever tax reform is discussed, the class that thinks it will lose some immediate benefit reacts. Nobody can see the process as a whole ”, he concludes.