Source: UOL - São Paulo / SP - ECONOMY - 24/05/2010

SÃO PAULO - Taxation was pointed out by businessmen as the main barrier to the growth of the São Paulo industry. According to an Ibope survey commissioned by the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp), 65% of companies said that taxes represent the biggest obstacle to development.
Among the items that make up the taxation group, the highlight was the tax burden, cited by 69% of the companies. The complexity for paying taxes comes next, with 7%.

The director of the Department of Research and Economic Studies of Fiesp, Paulo Francini, said that the result of the survey is not surprising, since the tax reform is an old claim of the sector.

Fiesp promised to take the survey data to pre-presidential candidates in the October elections. In addition, the entity will forward, in a meeting scheduled for November 8 with the president-elect, a list of proposals and demands.

During a press conference, Francini avoided commenting on the fact that the last presidents ignored the industry's calls to promote a comprehensive reform in the Brazilian tax system.

“The candidate signals goodwill in many ways, but the president-elect is concerned with management. For this reason, we intend in this great event that will take place after the elections to guarantee the president-elect a public commitment to structural reforms and to the priorities of the productive sector. In the case of tax reform, the need for transparency in the collection of taxes is evident, ”said Paulo Skaf, president of Fiesp.

Interest and credit were assessed as the second biggest barrier to the growth of the São Paulo industry, being mentioned by 11% of the companies.
In this item, 76% of the entrepreneurs considered that the main problem refers to the cost of credit and interest rates, while another 24% attributed the difficulties to the policies of access to credit for investment, working capital and exports.

As a result of barriers to development, problems related to labor (9%) were mentioned, especially in the issue of payroll taxation, foreign exchange and foreign trade (4%) and industrial and innovation policy (3 %).
The remaining concerns concern the cost of energy and telecommunications (2%), transport (2%), the legal and regulatory environment (2%) and also the environment (1%).
“It draws attention on the topic of transport, the concern with the cost of tolls (46%), which is ahead, for example, of traffic in cities (29%) and the state of conservation of highways (25%)”, observed Skaf. The survey polled 14 companies between April 7 and May XNUMX.

(Fernando Taquari | Value)