See Online - 11/09/2011

Operation Alchemy, flared on August 17 by the Federal Police, the Federal Revenue Service and the Federal Public Ministry, it dismantled a gang accused of withholding at least 1 billion reais in taxes. The scheme - one of the biggest tax frauds in the history of Brazil - involved 300 chemical companies, had branches in tax havens and was investigated by the authorities since the 90s. However, the deviations made by the criminal organization are only Tip of the iceberg. Estimates from the Brazilian Institute of Tax Planning (IBPT) for 2008 show that companies evade about 200 billion reais annually (check table with tax evasion numbers in the country). Adding up the deviations of individuals, the amount rises to 261 billion reais - equivalent to 9% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and more than the combined budgets of the ministries of Health and Education, and the Bolsa-Família Program, of 156 billions of reais. Such a deviation is not something that simply goes blank, without leaving consequences.

The leak left by tax evasion has harmful effects on society, since the government has almost a tenth of GDP less to make investments. In addition, to cover the enormous expenses of the spending state and meeting the primary surplus targets - the economy to reduce long-term debt - the entire government's fundraising effort falls solely on the good payers of this country. In this sense, protecting the state of these evildoers can be understood as a social justice policy. (See some cases of tax evasion that won the newspaper pages)

Unfair competition - The problem directly affects the private sector. Companies that “benefit” from non-payment of taxes gain an illegal competitive advantage, causing distortions in the market. “Companies that do everything correctly and pay their taxes on time suffer competitive losses. Therefore, they end up increasing prices or give up investing in innovation ”, explains Roberto Abdenur, former ambassador and president of the Brazilian Institute of Ethics in Competition (ETCO).

Another element inherent to tax evasion in Brazil is the gigantism of the informal economy: 18,3% of GDP in 2010, according to a survey conducted by ETCO in partnership with the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV). “Today there is pressure from companies for more formalization, which is in line with the government's wishes. In retail, for example, the competitors that are most annoying are those that sell without invoices ”, explains Luiz Felipe D'Ávila, president of the Center for Public Leadership (CLP).

Criminals who use tax evasion to appropriate a sum that is, in the last resort, everyone's also usually use the complex Brazilian tax system to practice their crimes. “In all, there are approximately one hundred types of taxes, 16.000 rules and laws and 180.000 articles dealing with taxes in Brazil. This is not a system, it is a cipoal ”, says tax lawyer Miguel Silva. “It doesn't matter that the system is complex, or that the load is extremely heavy. We are facing something that harms honest society. What is due has to be paid ”, says lawyer Fernando Steinbruch, from IBPT.

Tax evasion cases that won the newspaper pages:

2007 - Reborn

In 2007, a scandal struck the Church Renascer em Cristo. Its founders, Bishop Sônia Hernandes and her husband, apostle Estevam Hernandes, were arrested for trying to enter the United States with more money than the $ 10 they had declared. Imagining that they would pass the inspection unscathed, the couple distributed their resources in a purse, a CD holder, a suitcase and even a Bible. The strategy went awry and the US authorities ended up seizing $ 56. The action, in fact, had been previously planned by the Special Action Group for the Repression of Organized Crime (Gaeco), of the Public Ministry of São Paulo, and the FBI. The couple was just fleeing the prison that had been requested by the MP on charges of fraud, money laundering and tax evasion - the IRS was investigating, at the time, bank accounts linked to the Renascer Group, in which about 46 million reais were handled. declared. Time passed, the case cooled and the Bishop turned the corner. She even just released a book, Living Well with Life, in which she tells personal stories. The work, of course, ignores the episode of the couple's arrest.

2009 - Daslu

In March 2009, businesswoman Eliana Tranchesi, her brother, Antonio Carlos Piva de Albuquerque, and four other people were convicted and imprisoned for crimes of conspiracy, import fraud and forgery of documents. Tranchesi - owner of the traditional boutique Daslu, focused on selling luxury items in the capital of São Paulo - got a habeas corpus and was released. The other defendants were also released shortly afterwards. Investigations into the smuggling and fraud scheme began four years before arrest warrants with the seizure of a Gucci invoice in a container at Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo. The document confirmed the direct sale of the Italian brand to Daslu. However, another receipt, presented by the company to the IRS, informed that the goods had been acquired by an importer and arrived in the country from Miami, in the United States. In July 2010, the company entered into a judicial reorganization regime and, in February this year, it was sold to the Laep Investimentos fund, owned by businessman Marcos Elias, a former controller of Parmalat. In the same year of the Daslu scandal, in 2009, another businesswoman in the luxury sector fell into the fine fabric. Tânia Bulhões, owner of a chain of stores, was accused of illegal importation and avoidance of foreign exchange, and was ordered to provide community services.

2011 - Sales Machine

The businessman Ricardo Nunes - partner of the retailer Máquina de Vendas, resulting from the merger between the chain Ricardo Eletro, which he founded, with the northeastern Insinuante - was sentenced in August to three years and four months in prison for the crime of active corruption. The reason was a complaint by the Attorney General's Office that he had paid a bribe to an IRS tax auditor so that his company would not be assessed. The professional in question, Einar de Albuquerque Pismel Júnior, was arrested in flagrante delicto, in September last year, with 50.000 reais and $ 4.000 in cash when he left the Ricardo Eletro office, in the south of São Paulo. Nunes' lawyer alleges his client's innocence and appealed to the Regional Federal Court.

2011 - Ivete Sangalo

Even the Bahian singer Ivete Sangalo did not escape the “Leão”. In your case, the complaint came from a close person. Her former drummer, Antônio da Silva, known as Toinho Batera, sues the singer's team for not having received labor rights when leaving the job. The compensation requested by Batera is R $ 5 million. In the case of the fraud involving Ivete, the suspicion is that a front company, Banda do Bem Produções Artísticas, was opened just to pay the salaries of the professionals in her band. According to Silva's defense lawyer, Willer Tomaz, the musicians were appointed partners of the company in question. Thus, the employees' real contractor, Caco de Telha Produções Artísticas, did not pay benefits such as 13th salary, vacation and guarantee fund, in addition to evading taxes. Both Banda do Bem and Caco de Telha are controlled by Luiz Paulo de Souza Nunes, brother-in-law and partner of Ivete Sangalo. The process is in court and has no date to be judged.

2011 - Pagé Gallery

With more than 1,4 million visitors a month, Galeria Pagé, in São Paulo, was known as the mecca of counterfeit, smuggled products that had not collected taxes from public coffers. In April this year, the site was closed due to a joint operation by the city hall, the Secretariat of Public Security, the Federal Revenue Service, the Ministry of Justice and Sanitary Surveillance. At the time, about a million products were seized, including watches, glasses, clothing, sneakers, toys and electronics, extracted from 148 different stores and 50 people were arrested. The building was closed for ten days. After that period, the project was reopened with the idea of ​​gradually being transformed into a modern outlet. The location, however, has not yet proved to be very different.

The work carried out by the Federal Revenue Service, combined with technology, has advances. The experts interviewed by the VEJA website state, in unison, that it has become more difficult for companies to carry out tax fraud. Good news for those who pay their obligations on time and who, justice is done, can dream of having their share of the arduous weight of the state reduced.