Budget Rapporteur suggests Haddad read less Machiavelli and more Bible

The rapporteur of the Budget Guidelines Law (PLDO) 2025 project, senator Angelo Coronel (PSD-BA), suggested to the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, to read less Machiavelli and The Art of War, and more the Holy Bible.

Last week, amidst the Executive’s difficulties in dealing with the Legislature, Lula suggested that Haddad read less to have time to talk to Congress: “Fernando Haddad has to, instead of reading a book, waste a few hours talking in the Senate and the Chamber”, stated the president, during a ceremony at Palácio do Planalto.

In recent days, in a new chapter of the struggle between the Powers, the government appealed to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) against the payroll tax exemption.

“What is missing there, Lula has already given the message, is for the minister to read less, because he often wastes time reading, perhaps even Machiavelli, or the Art of War, to exercise himself before the National Congress. Maybe the book is not the right book”, recommended the senator in an interview with Metropolises this Tuesday (30/4). “I think the best book to read at a time like this is the Holy Bible”, he added.

Niccolo Machiavelli was a Renaissance philosopher, historian and poet. Author of The Prince, he theorized about the types of State and the exercise of political authority.

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise (written around 500 BC), attributed to the Chinese general Sun Tzu, that deals with a different set of skills related to war and their application in military strategy and tactics. In the 16th century, Machiavelli also wrote a book entitled The Art of War, in which he deals with the military institution and civil life and the organization of the army.

Despite considering that Haddad needs to act “more sparingly”, senator Angelo Coronel praised the work of the government leader in the Senate, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA). “He [Wagner] has done a herculean job to maintain peace, but it is not easy”, he praised.

For Coronel, who last year reported on the sports betting regulation project, there are sources of compensation to pay for the exemption. He considers that the Ministry of Finance has been slow to collect the grants for operating licenses to begin collecting. The estimate is that at least R$5 billion will be raised.

The law that regulated the betting market was sanctioned at the end of 2023, but only last week was the head of the Prizes and Betting Secretariat appointed, responsible for the registration and supervision of betting operators.

“It’s a contradiction. [A equipe econômica] He wants money, he has the source and he doesn’t operate the source”, said the senator. “We created new sources of funding, at least five new sources were created, so much so that it generated cash for the government. And the one that did not generate cash, in the case of bets, is not due to a lack of will on the part of Congress, which approved it on an urgent basis and has had four months without the government putting it into operation. In other words, the government is giving up around R$5 billion in grants alone, apart from the normal revenue resulting from the taxes that these companies will pay on each sports bet played. I mean, we put the source. Saying that there is no source is wrong, it is missing the truth.”

Exemption became a battlefield

Payroll relief is a mechanism that allows companies in benefiting sectors to pay rates of 1% to 4.5% on gross revenue, instead of 20% on payroll (the so-called employer social security contribution). The exchange is advantageous for companies, because it reduces labor costs in exempt sectors.

This measure began to be implemented during the first Dilma Rousseff (PT) government, in 2011, to stimulate job creation, and has had successive extensions since then. The last one, in 2023, extends the benefit until 2027.

Through a provisional measure (MP) issued at the end of last year, the government sought to revoke the text approved by parliamentarians, which opened a dispute between Planalto and Congress. In a sign of retreat, a bill (PL) was sent to Congress to discuss the topic, but the matter has not yet been analyzed.

Last Thursday (25/4), STF minister Cristiano Zanin suspended sections of the law approved by Congress, responding to a request from the Federal Attorney General’s Office, considering that, without indicating the budgetary impact, there could be “a significant imbalance in public accounts and an emptying of the constitutionalized fiscal regime”.

The consideration of Minister Cristiano Zanin’s decision in the Court’s virtual plenary session was interrupted after a request for a review by Minister Luiz Fux. So far, four ministers have followed the rapporteur’s understanding. They are: Flávio Dino, Gilmar Mendes, Luís Roberto Barroso and Edson Fachin.

The Federal Senate then asked the Court to review Minister Zanin’s decision, highlighting that all parliamentarians, when voting, were fully informed about the impact of the measure, that is, the tax expenses resulting from the exemption.

“The legislator voted to approve the rule – and also to overturn the full veto –, with full awareness and responsibility regarding the costs of the public policy that he intended to see maintained (and expanded), understanding that the merits of the proposal justify its promulgation ”, highlighted the petition from the Senate Attorney’s Office.