President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Thursday (15) that he will act to exempt workers from Income Tax (IR) on bonuses paid for Profit Sharing (PLR) by companies. The statement was made during a speech after visiting the Renault factory facilities in São José dos Pinhais (PR), a city in the metropolitan region of Curitiba.
“I just want to tell you that this issue of the PLR has been on my mind for a long time. We approved a tax reform, but it has not yet been fully approved. And you can be sure that, for the first time in its history, this country has a president who is committed to ensuring that wages cannot be treated as income,” said the president, drawing applause from hundreds of workers who attended the ceremony to visit the automaker. The issue is a long-standing demand of workers’ unions.
In defending the exemption, Lula compared it to the fact that shareholders and partners of companies already have this type of tax benefit. “A citizen who receives a R$2 million bonus does not pay Income Tax. And the poor, the worker, the one who receives a paycheck at the end of the month, who has no way of escaping it because it is discounted from their paycheck. I am just waiting for the opportunity for us to take action and approve the end of Income Tax in the PLR for the Brazilian people,” he highlighted.
A bill (PL) currently being processed in the Chamber of Deputies, PL 581/2019, amends the Corporate Profit Sharing Law to grant employees the same tax treatment given to partners and shareholders when distributing profits or dividends. The text has already been approved by the Senate and now awaits approval by the deputies.
In his speech, Lula also praised the investments made by the automotive sector in the country. “Here, at the Renault factory in São José dos Pinhais, Paraná, since its installation, more than R$12 billion has been invested in the country. Now, in the cycle from 2023 to 2025, another R$2 billion will be invested, with more than 5,000 employees, not to mention the 25,000 indirect jobs throughout the state.” The French automaker has been present in the country, with its factory in Paraná, for about 25 years.
Along the same lines, the president of the National Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers (Anfavea), Márcio Leite, celebrated the heating up of the automobile sales market, which reached 1.5 million new cars up until this month, a mark that last year had only been reached in mid-September, according to him.
“We have created more than 50,000 new jobs in the automotive sector, a number that has not happened since 2012. This is the best time for job creation. [no setor automotivo]”, he stated.
Announcement
During the event, the president attended the signing of the service order for the start of Lot 2A of BR-487, known as Estrada Boiadeira. The Ministry of Transport and the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT) are involved in the execution of the work, at a cost of R$322 million.
The lot totals 37.39 kilometers (km). According to the federal government, it is the last of the lots remaining for the closure of Estrada Boiadeira. With the recent federalization of the highway, which occurred last week, Dnit will now be fully involved in the maintenance of Lot 1A, between km 9 and km 56.
Agenda
Earlier, also in the metropolitan region of Curitiba, Lula participated in an event to mark the resumption of the Araucária Nitrogenados SA Fertilizer Factory (Ansa)a subsidiary of Petrobras. The resumption occurs after almost four years, when the unit had its activities suspended in 2020. The investment planned for the reopening of the factory is R$870 million, according to the government.
Lula will now head to Rio Grande do Sul, where he will fulfill a series of other agendas in Porto Alegre and the metropolitan region throughout this Friday (16). Among the commitments are the delivery of housing units from the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program, the inauguration of a new structure for cancer treatment in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, and the launch of a new road complex in São Leopoldo.
