Despite the short deadline and the need for a new vote in the Chamber of Deputies, the tax reform has a chance of being enacted this year, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said this evening. He commented on the approval of the proposal in the first round in the Senate and said he was confident in the new stage of progress in Congress.
“Now, the discussion is much easier to have. Is it to incorporate or not [novos pontos] and be able to promulgate. I believe that it is possible to enact the tax reform this year, despite the return to the Chamber”, declared the minister.
Haddad thanked the senators and gave the text a score of 7.5. “It’s not a 10, but it will bring investment to Brazil and increase our exports,” he said. The minister, however, praised the device included by the Senate that will allow the review of special regimes every five years. According to him, the periodic review could make the tax reform reach grade 10.
Regarding the score of 53 votes to 24 in the Senate plenary, just four votes more than necessary, Haddad says that the margin could have been greater if the debate had not been politicized.
“There was a lot of action on the part of the opposition against reform. In my opinion, this polarized the debate a little, which is a Brazilian issue. The constitutional amendment proposal was not even presented in this government. It has been going on since 2019, but I want to believe that if we put Brazil above this, these disputes, we can even increase this score”, added the minister.
PEC rapporteur, senator Eduardo Braga (MDB-AM) said that the moment is historic.
“I want to thank you for the historic vote. In the democratic regime, this is the first time that the Senate has approved a tax reform. I want to thank you for your trust in the work we do”, he commented, shortly after voting in the first round.
The extraordinary secretary for Tax Reform at the Ministry of Finance, Bernard Appy, said he was extremely happy with the approval in the Senate, even with the tight score. “I am extremely happy. I preferred a looser score, but it was,” he declared shortly after the vote.
Second round
The Senate recently started voting on the PEC in the second round. During the voting on highlights in the first round, only one amendment was approved, after an agreement with Braga. Authored by Senator Mecias de Jesus (Republicanos-RR), the highlight extends the validity of the Sustainability and Economic Diversification Fund of the State of Amazonas to the other states in the Northern Region.
