The Minister of Finance, Dario Durigan, met this Wednesday (17th) with the President of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Edson Fachin, and the Dean of the Court, Gilmar Mendes, to discuss the so-called “bomb agendas” approved by the Federal Senate last week. After the meeting, Durigan stated that the STF is working on preparing a summary — a consolidated understanding — on minimum conditions for approving projects with fiscal impacts.
– I was informed by them that there is a proposal for a summary in the Supreme Court. I said that, from the Treasury’s point of view, it would be very important for the Supreme Court to move forward on this issue, so that we also have this institutional support and a minimum condition of viability, as Minister Fachin has also stated – said the minister.
Minimum conditions
Durigan stated that the discussion seeks to establish minimum conditions for the approval of measures with fiscal impact, including forecasting funding sources, in order to preserve the sustainability of public accounts and avoid losses to future generations. He added, however, that he intends to analyze the text of the proposal in more detail before making a more in-depth assessment.
Among the projects approved on Wednesday last week are the increase in the minimum salary for doctors, the relaxation of retirement rules for community health agents and the renegotiation of debts of large rural producers.
STF ministers had already been observing that the discussion could be influenced by a judgment concluded in April this year, when the Court established that the creation of mandatory expenses or the granting of tax incentives requires compliance with the rules set out in the Fiscal Responsibility Law and the Constitution.
At the time, the court followed the vote of the rapporteur, Minister Cristiano Zanin, and established the thesis that article 14 of the Fiscal Responsibility Law and article 113 of the Transitional Constitutional Provisions Act must be observed in legislative proposals that grant or expand tax benefits and also in those that create or alter mandatory expenses.
The judgment took place in the context of the discussion on payroll tax relief, when the STF concluded that measures with a relevant fiscal impact cannot be approved without an estimate of the budgetary impact and compensation mechanisms.
