The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, said this Wednesday (18th) that the federal government will present a proposal to the states to change the incidence of the Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) on fuels. The measure is an attempt to contain pressure on prices, driven by the conflict in the Middle East, and to avoid a possible strike by truck drivers after the rise in diesel prices.
The strategy will be mediated during today’s meeting of the National Council for Finance Policy (Confaz), a body formed by the Finance Secretaries of all states and the Federal District and chaired by the Finance Minister himself. Haddad did not anticipate the proposal, but stated that the policy of lowering prices does not compromise the fiscal health of the federative units.
Increased revenue
For the minister, the increase in state revenue from ICMS following federal actions against tax evasion in the fuel sector, such as Operation Hidden Carbon, must be taken into account. Furthermore, according to him, the new Contumaz Debtor Law, which combats repeated tax defaults, if adapted to state legislation, should also increase state revenue.
“This is a positive fact, that revenue increases without the tax increasing”, argued Haddad in an interview at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance.
Although the federal government had already zeroed PIS and Cofins on diesel last week, on a temporary basis, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva himself stated that relief for consumers’ pockets will be limited without state collaboration and asked for “good will” from governors.
The states’ claim
Still, the states reject lowering the tax and say that experience shows that tax reductions on fuels are not usually passed on to the end consumer. In a note published this Tuesday (17), the National Committee of Secretaries of Finance, Finance, Revenue or Taxation of the States and the Federal District (Comsefaz), which brings together state Finance secretaries, stated that this type of measure generates a double loss for the population, because the price of fuel does not go down, but there is a loss of money for public policies.
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Oversight
In addition to the diesel subsidy, last week, the federal government also determined, on a permanent basis, inspection and transparency measures to combat the abusive increase in fuel prices for speculation purposes. Abusiveness will be defined by objective criteria to be designed by the National Petroleum Agency (ANP).
Minister Fernando Haddad also recalled that the Federal Police (PF) opened an investigation to investigate irregularities in the market and guarantee the transfer of the reduction in federal taxes to the price of fuel.
“You can see that (the price of) gasoline was not changed, in the case of Petrobras[whichraisedthepriceofdieselHoweverspeculatorsaretakingadvantageofthistenseclimateduetothewartotakeadvantageofthesituationharmingthepopulareconomySothisisserious”hestated[queelevouopreçododieselNoentantoosespeculadoresestãoaproveitandoesseclimatensoemfunçãodaguerraparatirarproveitodasituaçãoprejudicandoaeconomiapopularEntãoissoégrave”afirmou
“In the case of diesel, we compensated, removing PIS and Cofins and subsidizing the difference so that there was no increase at the pump. And those who were speculating before the government’s measures, they haven’t lowered the price yet, at least not all of them”, added Haddad.
