Minister of Finance asked journalists for reflection and declared that the sector defends “private interests”
The Minister of Finance, , criticized journalism companies and journalists this Wednesday (13.nov.2024). He said that the media should stop defending, in his opinion, private interests. Charged “reflection” of the sector and argued that the federal government was right about the fiscal impact of subsidies in the past.
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Haddad gave an interview this Wednesday (13.Nov.2024). Haddad’s criticisms were about the lack of support in the MP, which ended the exemption from the payroll of the 17 sectors – including journalism companies – and the gradual end of Perse (Emergency Program for the Resumption of the Events Sector).
“We are asking the Judiciary, the Armed Forces, and the Legislature itself to make an effort in relation to the amendments. You can also, as institutions, take the effort you have to make with knowledge. It’s a lot of money that was given to the press, it is a lot of money that was given to companies that gained from the pandemic”he declared.
The minister said that the Federal Revenue had its credibility impacted by the newspapers. He stated that the media treated the government’s resignation with the payroll tax relief and Perse as overvalued. Haddad was unable to end the benefit to 17 sectors of the economy and event companies once and for all. Subsidies until 2026 (Perse) and until 2027 (exemption).
According to Haddad, Brazil’s fiscal situation would be “much more comfortable” if the press had not acted against the provisional measure. The Federal Revenue announced this Wednesday (November 13, 2024) that, from January 1st to October 29th of this year, 54,900 taxpayers declared having benefited from R$97.7 billion in tax credits (subsidies). Of this amount, Perse corresponded to R$9.67 billion and payroll tax relief totaled R$12.26 billion. Here is the report (PDF – 647 kB).
Haddad said that the data proves that the government was right and the newspapers were wrong: “We need to trust state institutions more. The Federal Revenue is a State institution, it has no party, its concern is the country. When she makes a judgment that the hole in Perse and the hole in tax relief are that big, you need to learn to take it seriously”.
Read in full what the Minister of Finance said:
“Today we publish subsidy data to contain initiatives that aim to increase subsidies for certain sectors. You are watching in Congress. They know that there are initiatives in this direction. Today we made public for the first time in history the tax incentives given to each company individually and to sectors, in an aggregated way.
“You will see that that measure from last year, and it was questioned a lot at the end of last year, about payroll tax relief and the Perse issue, as the Federal Revenue Service was right. We said what: if the Measure [Provisória] [de 2023] is approved, we will end 2024 with fiscal balance foreseen in the budget, which everyone said is not balanced. And I said: it is balanced and, if we approve the [MP] 1,202, if the press, which benefits from the payroll tax relief, understands that it is important to believe in Brazil, to return to paying taxes on the Social Security of its employees, we would not be going through this thing.
“It is important that the press itself reassess the behavior it had last year, when the Treasury, rightly, announced the tax relief figures for payroll and Perse. We were heavily criticized because we were, supposedly, exaggerating the numbers, and today what has been proven is that we were right and you in the press were wrong.
“It is important for you to reflect on this, because the fiscal effort must be made by everyone, including you. You have to stop defending private interests and start defending the general interests of society as a whole.
“Subsidies will continue to be faced, but in this set of measures we are working on the issue of spending dynamics, but the Treasury will continue to work on the issue of tax spending also because it is the role of any government to work on tax spending to curb lobby actions. , which you know very well. An assessment needs to be made. You rightly put a lot of pressure on the Brazilian State. It’s your role, but you also have to reevaluate your behavior.
“We are asking the Judiciary, the Armed Forces, and the Legislature itself to make an effort in relation to the amendments. You can also, as institutions, take the effort you have to make with knowledge. It’s a lot of money that was given to the press, it’s a lot of money that was given to companies that gained from the pandemic. They gained from the pandemic due to people being at home and are today benefiting from a law that was poorly drafted, under our protest. We said from the beginning: this waiver value is much higher than what is being estimated here by the approved law.
“We need to trust state institutions more. The Federal Revenue is a State institution, it has no party, its concern is the country. When she makes a judgment that the hole in Perse and the hole in tax relief is that big, you need to learn to take it seriously. The Revenue is not here to defend A, B or C. The Revenue is here to defend public assets.
“You look to me for information and I am giving you information today the size of the tax relief and Perse gap. And it seems like nothing has happened in the country in the last year. It seems like nothing happened. What happened was that the IRS was right, and that today we would be in a much more comfortable situation if the IRS’s credibility had not been called into question by the press itself.”
