The federal government can adjust proposals for change in the rules of the Continuous Payment Benefit (BPC) to enable the voting of the cost cutting packagesaid this Tuesday (10) the executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Dario Durigan. According to him, the adjustments will be small and should not have an impact on the expected resource savings.
“The concern is legitimate. We held a debate within the government, involving a series of ministries and political actors, and we reached a consensus. The BPC has a concern from the PT bench that we understand and will internalize”, explained Durigan after lunch with the Parliamentary Entrepreneurship Front (FPE).
On Monday (9), Durigan met with the PT bench in the Chamber of Deputies, where he heard the party’s concerns with the project that tightens the rules for access to the BPC. Over the weekend, the PT released a text praising the taxation of the super-rich, but calling for debate within the government regarding changes to the BPC.
“[Serão] minor adjustments, which can preserve, from a conceptual point of view and the logic of the BPC, without us having a loss of fiscal impact. If, in fact, you have a fear of loss of rights [de beneficiários]we can review. There’s no problem,” he declared.
The Executive Secretary of Finance did not discuss the points that could be reviewed, but admitted that parliamentarians from PT and other parties “were uncomfortable” with the tightening of the concept of the family that cohabits, with children who live abroad, which can lead to loss of rights . “They recognize that there is room for fraud, but at the same time [a proposta] it can impact people who would actually be entitled,” he said.
In the spending cut package announced at the end of November, the government wants to increase the criteria for calculating family income and prohibit the withdrawal of income not provided for by law. The measure, in practice, can remove people’s access to the benefit for exceeding their income of a quarter of the minimum wage.
Amendments
Once again, Durigan called on Congress to vote on the package later this year. The main obstacle so far is the release of parliamentary amendments after the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Flávio Dino rejected a request from the Federal Attorney General’s Office to reconsider part of the decision that toughened the release of amendments.
According to the secretary, the government should issue, this Tuesday (10), an ordinance to enable the payment of amendments. Also this Tuesday, the AGU must publish an opinion with enforceable force to guide the release of amendments by the end of the year.
“I hope so. The way we have dealt with it is always very transparent. Let’s make an agreement, there’s an agreement with Congress to deal with the amendments”, declared Durigan. “We are just a matter of timing. The timing is tight. We are rushing with definitions on the same day because the decision was made yesterday [segunda-feira].”
Before head surgeryPresident Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met on Monday with the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, and the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, to discuss the release of parliamentary amendments following Flávio Dino’s decision. The government intends to release R$4.1 billion in committee amendments and R$2.3 billion in bench amendments to allow voting on the spending cut package later this year.
THE release of amendments intends to help the government unlock the fiscal package, considered a sensitive topic in Congress. The government wants to cut R$327 billion in spending by 2030, saving R$71.9 billion in 2025 and 2026 alone.
Income Tax
Despite the delay in approving the package, Durigan reiterated that the government intends to send the package this year bill that expands income tax exemption for those earning up to R$5,000accompanied by the creation of a tax rate for those who earn more than R$50,000 per month.
The secretary also said that the bill that changes the rules for military pensions will be sent to the National Congress this week. Although they were announced with the spending cut package at the end of November, the proposals have so far been stuck in the Civil House and have not been sent to Congress.
