The Lula government will resume this year the formulation of a bill to tax large technology companies, responsible for most traffic on internet networks. At first, the biggest targets are the goal (owner of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook), Alphabet (Google and Youtube), Microsoft, Amazon, Apple and Netflix. The goal, according to the government, is that resources are used to subsidize internet access by needy people.
“We see the size of our market and how much they (companies) earn in Brazil. Nothing fairer that they are contributing in some way, ”said Communications Minister Juscelino Filho, at a news conference yesterday during Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain.
The idea of creating a rate on big techs. The initial forecast of the portfolio was to turn the proposal into a bill and send to Congress last year. However, this did not materialize for “lack of space on the agenda”, justified the minister.
Now the theme has been resumed. Juscelino said that Finance Minister Fernando Haddad assured that he would place the proposal between the priorities of the agenda to be discussed by the government with Congress in the coming months.
Juscelino admitted that the discussion will be complex, especially after the difficulties faced by the project that aimed to regulate technology companies and moderate the content of social networks, which generated political clashes.
“It’s not an easy, or simple debate, for the environment that has been imposed today within the National Congress,” said the Minister of Communications.
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On the other hand, the minister said he is talking to parliamentarians and the companies themselves to build a more adjusted text. He added that the climate in Parliament is better this year and that the presidents of both the House and Senate are aligned and in tune with the government. “We will be able to advance well this year.”
Political tension
If the project to tax the big techs is really taken from the drawer, the process will occur amid a political clash, as most major American technology companies aligned with the government of US President Donald Trump.
At the same time, Federal Supreme Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes, a right -chosen video platform to spread his ideas – and, in some cases, misinformation.
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Over the past few months, the minister has applied fines to these companies, determined the removal of content and blocking of accounts. This generated reaction from the United States.
Moraes became the target of an action open by Rumble and Trump Media, accused of violating American sovereignty.
Asked about these tensions, Communications Minister Juscelino Filho admitted that they affect the progress of the project, but considered that they are not exactly new, implying that the problem could be circumvented. “Of course, somehow affects, but it’s something that’s been going on,” he said.
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Juscelino also minimized the US government warning that it would retaliate countries that would impose rates on American technology companies. The minister considered that the US Congress itself has projects to create species of sectoral funds. “What we want is to guide the debate, is to seek to build,” he said.
