Source: Jornal do Senado, 01/06/2009

The tax exemption for CDs and DVDs was presented as a way to combat counterfeiting of products in the country during the seminar “Taxation and the practice of piracy in Brazil”, held at the Senate's Committee on Education, Culture and Sport (CE), in partnership with the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) in Rio de Janeiro. The suggestion, which did not receive unanimous support from the debaters, came from Eduardo Jardim, lawyer and professor of Tax Law at Universidade Mackenzie (SP).

The Constitution already provides tax immunity for books, newspapers, periodicals and the paper intended for printing; therefore, according to Jardim, it would be enough to approve an amendment including audiovisual cultural products in the same article 50.

The chairman of Amcham's Intellectual Property Committee, Steve Solot, in fact attributed to the high tax burden the prices of these goods, considered high by consumers who choose pirated products. According to Solot, the tax burden on CDs and DVDs reaches 43,25% in Rio and 42,25% in São Paulo. But the representative of the record companies, Leonardo Ganem, director general of Som Livre, predicted that, if the tax exemption comes, the price could fall by a maximum of 20%.

The committee's president, Flávio Arns (PT-PR), asked that the seminar serve as a “moment of reflection” including on the possibility of developing a new regulatory framework for the sector. Roberto Cavalcanti (PRB-PB) attributed the increase in piracy to a cultural issue. For him, Brazilians must be “less complicit” in piracy. In turn, Cristovam Buarque (PDT-DF) noted that measures to repress illicit practices should be accompanied by consumer awareness, through education, and a review of the prices charged.