The mayor of the city of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes, criticized this Wednesday (15) the proposals for tax reform that result in a loss of direct revenue by municipalities. The statement was given after he met, at the Planalto Palace, in Brasília, with the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha. Although it was not on the agenda of the meeting, the mayor said that this is the “subject of the moment” and both talked about it.
“He [Padilha] told me that there is a discussion [no Congresso] and he even commented to me now that only ten municipalities would lose revenue, but these ten municipalities represent 40% of the population. Therefore, when you have an issue where municipalities lose revenue, I see it with great difficulty of approval”, said Ricardo Nunes, referring to the ten largest cities in the country. The São Paulo manager is one of the vice-presidents of the National Federation of Mayors (FNP ), an entity that brings together the leaders of the capitals and medium and large cities of the country.
A priority on the economic agenda of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the tax reform will be discussed by a working group created in the National Congress based on two proposals that are already being discussed in the Chamber of Deputies (PEC 45/19) and in the Federal Senate (PEC 110/19). The group’s rapporteur is deputy Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB). The federal government will not forward its own proposal, but will take advantage of the content of these projects in progress and intensify the parliamentary articulation to approve them. It is precisely the PEC 45/19, which is being processed in the Chamber, the biggest source of concern for the mayors. Authored by Deputy Baleia Rossi (MDB-SP), the proposal does away with five taxes and creates in their place the Tax on Operations with Goods and Services (IBS), a federal tax, collected by the Union and which would later be passed on to states and counties. It would replace IPI, PIS and Cofins, which are federal taxes, as well as ICMS (state) and ISS (municipal).
“PEC 45, the way it is, will cause great damage to most municipalities”, argued Ricardo Nunes. “When you no longer have the ISS issue, revenue concentration is not the best path for development,” he added. The mayors of the largest cities have defended PEC 46/22, authored by the Senate Oriovisto Guimarães (Podemos-PR), arising from a campaign by various civil society organizations, the Simplify Now. This proposal does not create a single tax and provides for a reform in the country’s main taxes, such as ICMS and ISS, maintaining the collection autonomy of states, municipalities and the Union, which would continue to collect their own taxes.
Post Office Palace
At the meeting with minister Alexandre Padilha, the mayor of São Paulo reaffirmed his intention to acquire the Palácio dos Correios, located in the Anhangabaú Valley, in the center of the capital. The historic building has 15,000 square meters of built area and was inaugurated in 1922.
“The Correios had already, in July of last year, sent a letter to the City Hall of São Paulo, offering the building, including values. a decree from the President of the Republic, due to the legislation that governs this issue”, explained Ricardo Nunes. The asking price for the building is R$ 77.6 million. If the sale is not possible, the mayor proposed a concession for up to 100 years of the building for municipal management.
The municipal management project is to install the SP24 on the site, which will house various city hall services 24 hours a day. In addition, it will house the monitoring center of the capital, with the monitoring of 20,000 cameras throughout the city, in addition to managing ambulances from the Mobile Emergency Care Service (SAMU), traffic lights and traffic system, Metropolitan Civil Guard ( GCM), among others.
