The recent preliminary rulings of the STF in favor of requests made by the governments of Maranhão it’s from alagoas should encourage new lawsuits for the suspension of payment of debts of states with the Union because of the fall in ICMS revenues. The tax rate is the main source of revenue for the states and was limited by a complementary law that sets a ceiling for the index that is levied on fuel, energy, telecommunications and transport.
Survey carried out by the National Treasury at the request of the newspaper The globe points out that 24 states and the Federal District have a total of R$ 11.3 billion to pay this year in installments of the consolidated public debt. Thus, the granting of injunctions by ministers Alexandre de Moraes (to Maranhão) and Luiz Fux (to Alagoas) may lead to the filing of similar actions by other governments, since they all had losses with the limitation on tax collection. Calculations made by the state Treasury departments estimate that the collection of the federative units will shrink by R$ 54 billion by the end of the year.
If effective, the measures will be a new front for the states’ reaction against the drop in ICMS, which faced resistance during the entire process of the bill in Congress.
