“We cannot say that R$15 million [em créditos tributários] are the relevant factor that will say whether you are a persistent debtor or not”, declares Edson Vasconcelos, president of the federation
The president of the (Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná), says that the PL (bill), which deals with the so-called persistent debtor (one who constantly fails to comply with tax debts), needs to better define what characterizes the crime. The proposal is being processed by the Chamber’s Economic Development Committee.
“We have to configure in this project the best way to transcribe the fraud”declares to Poder360.
Watch the full interview (20min19s):
Deputies on Wednesday (Dec 4) more time for text analysis. The congressmen argued that there was opposition from industry federations regarding the project and the opinion ( – PDF – 381 kB) of the deputy (União Brasil-CE), designated as rapporteur at the collegiate.
The expectation is that the text will be analyzed again on Wednesday (Dec 11). O Poder360 found that the production sector received the report very badly.
Officially, Fiep takes a stand against chapter 3 of Forte’s opinion, which deals with the characterization of the persistent debtor “due to its clear collection nature and application of political sanctions to bona fide Brazilian taxpayers”. Here is the (PDF – 534 kB) of the document.
For Vasconcelos, what matters is what concerns tax credits. “We cannot say that R$15 million [em créditos tributários] They are the relevant factor that will determine whether you are a persistent debtor or not.”it says.
According to the ordinary bill presented by the president’s government (PT) in February, anyone in the following situations will be classified as a persistent debtor:
- has federal tax credits without suitable guarantees, whether or not registered in active debt of the Union, in the administrative or judicial fields, in an amount above R$15 million and corresponding to more than 100% of the known assets. This takes into account the total assets reported in the last balance sheet recorded in accounting;
- have federal tax credits registered in active debt of the Union, with a value equal to or greater than R$15 million in an irregular situation for a period equal to or greater than 1 year;
- is a related party of a legal entity deregistered or declared unfit in the last 5 years, with tax credits in an irregular situation whose amount totals equal to or greater than R$15 million, whether or not registered in active debt of the Union.
This way, the persistent debtor would be included in the tax register. The president of Fiep reinforces that he does not agree with the losses caused by those who refuse to pay the amount due in taxes.
“We have unfair competition. It is a social loss for those who use misconduct to harm the Tax Authorities, the Union and their competitors”declares Vasconcelos.
Fiep provided an opinion to the former secretary of Everardo Maciel, regarding the PL of the persistent debtor. In the document ( – PDF – 214 kB) to which the Poder360 had access, the tax consultant says there is “improprieties that definitely discourage its approval”.
Here are other excerpts from the interview:
- fees – “The federal government is a vacuum cleaner looking for resources to cover its debt. The economic perspective of this rollover creates a change in behavior regarding post- and pre-fixed interest rates. So, this will automatically affect the interest rate in the long term. It’s a disaster for us, for the economy, for those who need to invest in assets every day”;
- tax package – “The government seems to be going another way […]. With each passing day, he makes it clear that he does not agree with this perspective of the primary surplus. And this delta that we have in GDP is totally linked to the heating of the economy, linked to government spending”;
- tax regulation – “It’s an unknown. However, we realize that the reform brings an old desire that we had for simplification, universalization, better distribution of tax payments, non-cumulative. But we end up moving around the world when we talk about the total load compared to emerging countries”;
- standard rate of VAT (Value Added Tax) – “Mexico has a total tax rate of 18%, India just above 20%. We are talking about 28%. We have to know that Brazil is not isolated from the world. We will not be able to isolate ourselves and we also have to understand that there are large sectoral differences”;
- PEC 4X3 – “Collective agreements are already in place and provide the conditions to deal with differences. You can even work from home today. You can work 4 by 3. In any way that is convenient for that particular sector. You cannot level this continental country, with so many differences, in a bill. The industry is completely against it”.
Read more:
WHO IS EDSON VASCONCELOS
Businessman Edson José de Vasconcelos is 47 years old. Born in Cascavel, Paraná. He has a degree in civil engineering from UFPR (Federal University of Paraná), an MBA in business management from FGV (Fundação Getulio Vargas) and an MBA in international business from the University of Ohio.
It operates in the civil construction and real estate sectors, in addition to the renewable energy sector. He was president of Paraná Energia.
At Fiep, he was vice-president for 12 years and coordinated the entity’s infrastructure thematic council. He assumed the presidency of the federation in October 2023. The mandate lasts 4 years.
The information in this post was previously published by Driveexclusively. The newsletter is produced for subscribers by the team of journalists at Poder360. Find out more about Drive and learn how to receive all the main information about power and politics in advance.
