This Thursday (28) approved the PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) of the churches, which. The project had massive support from the evangelical bench and is now going to .
The final version of the PEC was approved in two rounds with an empty plenary, in a semi-presential session. The final version of the text passed with 368 votes in favor and 96 against.
The deliberation was encouraged by the President of the Chamber, (-PB), who determined a discount on the payment of the parliamentarian who was absent from the session.
Deputies accepted a version of the text that further extends this benefit to a series of other activities, in a generic way, including daycare centers, social assistance, therapeutic communities and convents, for example.
In practice, the text opens a loophole to prevent any taxation (federal, state or municipal) on goods, services and consumption, for example the purchase of helicopters, vehicles, food, microphones or cleaning services.
According to the proposal, for example, the construction of a temple — including the acquisition of the brick, the lamp, the hiring of the architect and the bricklayer — can also receive tax immunity.
According to the approved wording, the details of this immunity will be defined by regulation.
The session took place one day after the approval of another PEC, which reduces the working day to 40 hours and ends the so-called 6×1 scale, which was deliberated on Wednesday night (27).
“We are asking for an extension to be made to institutions linked to temples”, defended deputy Eli Borges (Republicanos-TO), former president of the evangelical bench in the Chamber.
PT leader, Pedro Uczai (SC), complained that the text is too generic in providing benefits for religious entities and “other non-profit activities”. Previously, the proposal determined which institutions would benefit from the change.
“You open everything, being able to do everything, as long as it is related to the institution and non-profit. We are going to give tax immunity without identifying what type of entity it is. When we include daycare centers and therapeutic communities it is understandable, but when we put ‘other activities’ and do not name them, many suspicious entities can use religious legal figures to do evil things in the country”, said the PT member.
The proposal that expands immunity to churches advanced in the Chamber in 2024, (PT), but was not voted on in plenary at the time because the session was closed due to the , in front of the (Supreme Federal Court).
It was voted on this Thursday, shortly after the approval of another project of interest to churches, which allows parents to commit their children to compulsory hospitalization.
PEC 5 of 2023 has as one of its authors the federal deputy and pastor of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, (Republicanos-RJ).
Currently, the Constitution already prohibits the imposition of taxes on “essential purposes” of “religious entities and temples of any cult”.
Initially, Crivella’s proposal expanded this prohibition to “the acquisition of goods and services necessary for the formation of assets, the generation of income and the provision of services”.
In practice, this means that the federal government cannot charge taxes on the purchase of church properties, such as religious temples, on vehicles, or on the hiring of third parties who work in these institutions.
Now, a new version of the text has been voted, reported by deputy Fernando Máximo (PL-RO), an ally of Crivella, which further increases the scope of this prediction.
According to the proposal, the acquisition of goods and services used in the “implementation, maintenance and operation” of religious entities, but not only that, is prohibited from taxation.
Also included in this scope are “daycare centers, therapeutic communities, monasteries, seminaries, convents, institutional care services, social assistance activities”, in addition to the generic concept of “other non-profit activities”, without explaining what is defined as this.
To defend the proposal, Crivella himself used the examples of the helicopter and the microphone.
