Finance Minister Fernando Haddad defended himself on Friday (7), criticism of the applied rate on international e-commerce platforms. He stressed that taxes charged on online shopping are also state.
In participation in the Podcast Flow, Haddad said the first tax that appears on product offers on sites like Shopee is ICMS, a state tribute. “ICMS has nothing to do with the federal government. Nothing to do. It is a state tax. If Tarcísio Freitas, governor of Sao Paulo comes here one day, will not come to him and ask why you taxed Shoppee? You don’t even know that he is taxing the shopee. Zema Romeu Zema, governor of Minas Gerais will come here and you will say, ‘Did you handle Shein?’ You don’t even know that it is charging. The money is going to the state’s safe, ”said Haddad.
Regarding import tax on online purchases, a minimum of 20%, the minister stated that the tax was approved unanimously from the parties in Congress, with the support, including PL, former President Jair Bolsonaro.
He lamented, quoting the phrase of Joseph Goebbels, minister of Nazi propaganda, that when a lie is repeatedly told, people end up believing. “What is there on the Marketplace websites is, one, the ICMS, a state tax of all governors… the 27 governors of the country charge the ICMS of the marketplaces. Two, the Import Tax, which is federal, was created by the National Congress with the support of 100% of the parties, including that of Bolsonaro. ”
According to the minister, purchases of international websites were taxed because the retail, which was closing stores, charged tax isonomy. “What Congress did was level,” he explained. “Regrettably, we are in a virtual environment that has no filter. It is very difficult for you to combat a fake news when you have a paid army, a lot of money involved to tarnish a person’s reputation, ”Haddad added.
The most difficult is not to solve problem in the spreadsheet, but in politics
Haddad, said at the same time as sectors that defend spending cuts often complain when the government cuts its benefits to balance public accounts. He stressed that the difficulty in solving the fiscal problem is not “in the spreadsheet” -that is, in the technical sphere -but in politics, which undergoes pressure from organized business groups.
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“When you talk about tax spending, which is the money that the rich does not pay tax, then the guy speaks peraí, put, this fiscal benefit is my acquired right of mine. This incentive that was given here to my sector, he has to be eternal, ”said Haddad.
The minister stressed that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva authorized a series of adjustments in the Constitution to keep the fiscal framework, while replacing health and education resources after the pandemic.
In the interview, Haddad commented on the GDP result – who, he judged, “is cool” – and recalled that the unemployment rate fell to the historic minimum. However, it preached a calibration between supply and demand to contain inflation. “We have to take care of inflation,” Haddad said, citing that some products, such as coffee, whose demand has risen around the world, inspire more care.
