The Chinese group Alibaba sent this Tuesday (3) to 22 state finance secretaries a letter expressing concern about the (Tax on Circulation of Goods and Provision of Services) on international purchases from 17% to 25%.
The increase has been debated by Comsefaz (committee of Finance secretaries) since April and is on the agenda of the ordinary meeting this Thursday (5) in Foz do Iguaçu (PR). In the letter, the group requests that this Thursday’s meeting.
The letters were sent to the secretaries with whom the group had not met — there had already been meetings with those from Minas Gerais, Bahia, Pernambuco, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul.
In the document, Felipe Daud, director of government relations at Alibaba, states that, today, the minimum tax burden on consumers is 44.5%, and can reach 92% on the value of the purchase.
“If the ICMS rate is increased to 25%, the tax burden will be at least 60% and may reach up to 113%, an alarming and highly harmful value for the economy, in addition to causing new considerable adverse impacts on revenue collection. state, economic dynamism and tax justice”, indicates the letter.
The group’s director states that recent data from the Federal Revenue Service and the states indicate that the increase in federal taxes on imports resulted in a significant drop in ICMS collection in the states. “With the 41% drop in the customs value of remittances, it is possible to estimate a general drop of 30.3% in ICMS collection in the states, a direct result of the decrease in the customs value and volume of registered remittances.”
According to him, the drop reflects the impact of reduced consumer demand for international purchases due to the increase in the total tax burden and a new increase in the ICMS rate would intensify this decline.
The Alibaba director also says that the rate increase is regressive in nature, disproportionately impacting lower-income consumers. He also defends that any decision be based on technical studies and projections that consider the tax burden actually practiced in Brazil, the impacts on the revenue of states and the Union and economic consequences on consumers of cross-border e-commerce.
“To date, however, there is no knowledge of studies capable of justifying an increase in ICMS to 25%”, he says.
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