Haddad says Congress must also have fiscal responsibility

The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, stated that Congress, as well as the Executive, should respect the Fiscal Responsibility Law, and that acts that violate the legislation should be suspended. The comment was made in an interview with Folha de São Paulo, published this Saturday (27), and refers to the decision of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to question the Federal Supreme Court (STF) about the extension of payroll tax relief. payment system for 17 sectors of the economy and city halls, approved last year by Congress.

“Not long ago, creating expenses and foregoing revenue were exclusive acts of the Executive branch. The Supreme Court said that Parliament also has the right to do the same. But what is the imbalance? The Executive has to respect the Fiscal Responsibility Law. And Parliament, no. That’s why we now turn to the STF. It must be said that Congress also has to respect the same law. And that acts that do not respect it need to be suspended,” he stated.

The minister also said that no one wants to take away anyone’s prerogative, but that the Executive cannot be subject to “rigid rules” and the Legislative cannot.

“It has become a parliamentarism that, if it goes wrong, does not dissolve the Parliament, but the Presidency of the Republic, and calls in the vice president,” said Haddad.

Responding to the government’s request, made via the Attorney General’s Office (AGU), STF minister Cristiano Zanin suspended the payroll exemption in a preliminary decision and took the matter to be considered by the other members of the Court. The trial, in a virtual plenary session, was interrupted on Friday night (26), after minister Luiz Fux asked for more time to analyze the government’s request. So far, five ministers have voted to maintain Zanin’s preliminary decision.

The Senate, in turn, appealed. The House’s lawyers pointed out that the rapporteur was based on “wrong factual assumptions” to grant the injunction and stated that the exemption does not cause losses to public accounts. “The conclusion that the law in question has in some way imposed excessive or unreasonable expenditure on the Executive, or that it could cause the depletion of the Union’s fiscal regime, is sadly mistaken,” said the Senate’s legal team.

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