The Vice President of the Republic and Minister of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, Geraldo Alckmin, said today (16) that the tax reform is a central issue for Brazil and should be carried out in the first year of the new government.
“Tax reform is central. It can make the GDP [Produto Interno Bruto] grow, it can bring economic efficiency, simplifying the tax issue and I understand what is essential, including for the industry”, said he, who was today (16) at the headquarters of the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp), in capital of São Paulo, where he participated in a meeting with the institution’s board of directors.
Alckmin also said that the government intends to end the Tax on Industrialized Products (IPI), a federal tax levied on national and imported products that have undergone some industrialization process (beneficiation, transformation, assembly, packaging or restoration).
Since July last year, a decree guaranteed the 35% reduction in the rate of the IPI on items manufactured in Brazil. The Lula government decided to maintain this reduction for the time being, but the goal is to end the tax.
“The next goal is to end the IPI, and to end the IPI is tax reform. All that is PE [Proposta de Emenda à Constituição]which demands constitutional change, three-fifths [dos votos], two votes, it has to be quick. You have to do it in the first year, take advantage of the momentum, the legitimacy of the electoral process, and advance as much as possible”, said Alckmin.
During the meeting, the vice president also asked for support from businessmen to reduce bureaucracy in the economy. “I ask you to send us all the proposals to reduce bureaucracy”, he said.
Before Alckmin’s speech, the president of Fiesp, Josué Gomes, complained about the country’s high tax burden and spoke about the need to reindustrialize Brazil.
“If we reindustrialize Brazil, we will promote economic growth at the high rates that Brazil needs to solve, including and mainly, the social problems that are so serious,” he said.
The president of Fiesp commented on the need to discuss and improve the labor reform, as long as “we don’t have setbacks”.
