The Senate approved, this afternoon (10), the Complementary Bill (PLP) 11/2020, with the aim of reducing fuel prices for consumers. The PLP proposes the simplification of the Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) throughout the national territory, instituting the so-called “monophasia”, that is, the collection of the tax in only one phase of the production chain. The project, which originated in the Chamber of Deputies, returns to that House for a new analysis.
Currently, ICMS on fuel varies from state to state and is calculated throughout the distribution chain and on an average price at the pump. The PLP proposes that the tax has a fixed price, in reais, per liter of fuel, instead of being charged as a percentage of the final price of the product.
According to the project, the single-phase ICMS would be paid by the producer, their equivalents and importers of the fuels under their authority. In addition, this category includes people who produce fuel in a residual form, formulators of fuels through mechanical mixing, petrochemical plants and the bases of oil refineries.
Diesel is the only fuel that would adopt an emergency transition rule. According to this system, while diesel monophasia – and corresponding rate unification – is not adopted, the reference value for stipulating the tax will be the moving average of the average prices charged to the final consumer in the 60 months prior to its establishment. The other fuels, according to the text, must have their taxation aligned with the monophasia model.
This is the second project approved today in the Senate whose objective is to reduce the price of fuels. the first, the Bill (PL) 1472/2021was voted on and approved immediately before the vote on PLP 11/2020. After two postponements of voting in the Plenary, the approval of the two projects ended up taking place today.
Faced with the impasse and Petrobras announcement to increase diesel and gasoline prices in its refineries, the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), asked for commitment to deliberation on the issue today, without further extensions. Pacheco told the senators that the announcement of the substantial increase in fuel prices by Petrobras required the Senate to consider it during today’s session.
