As of August 2022, we will start a new electoral cycle, in which we will choose the new representatives of the Executive Branch. And we have the elections for Parliament with the renewal of 1/3 of the Federal Senate, and new federal and state deputies.
All elections are of paramount importance because it is through them that we strengthen our institutions, which are so necessary for the development of a Democratic State of Law. At this moment, I will focus on these, as the representatives of the Legislature are responsible for drafting the law and the structural reforms that are so necessary for our country.
Brazil has lacked structural reforms for a long time. Government enters, government leaves and the changes, which are crucial, always end up being left behind for different reasons. The main one being the lack of political will to carry out the changes that need to be made. Administrative reform, electoral reform, labor reform and tax reform, which was on the agenda for approval several times.
It is useless to simply carry out a tax reform if we do not tackle the deeper problems of the Brazilian tax system.
Brazilian companies live in a true tax asylum, with thousands of laws, decrees, interpretative and/or regulatory norms, COSIT solutions and many others. Keeping the company legal is a herculean task for the business community. Sometimes we dedicate more time to fiscal matters, than to generating wealth and jobs.
It will be up to the new legislators the civic mission to face this problem with great determination to end this tax pandemonium that we are experiencing. Today we have a highly complex, irrational, unjust system that encourages judicialization and allows tax evasion in droves.
In this electoral cycle that ends at the end of this year, we have seen tax reform essays several times, but in a reckless, thoughtless way, which does not attack the evils of the tax system. The country does need a tax reform, not a tax reform.
What we could observe in the various attempts made in the current legislature was simply an exchange of taxes, a “grouping of taxes”, with an increase in the tax burden, without attacking the numerous problems that our system imposes on Brazilian society. There are BRL 5 trillion in court, due to the immensity of rules that companies need to comply with. This is the problem that needs to be tackled.
We have a huge portion of the economy that doesn’t pay a penny in tax. It is 30% of the Brazilian GDP, which is not reached by the arms of the “lion”. Amazingly, 30% of what is produced in Brazil does not generate taxes. This is the effect of tax evaders, the informal economy, tax avoidance, money from organized crime and trafficking. This problem was also not tackled by any of the proposals presented, and “almost approved” in the National Congress.
Therefore, there is no point in simply carrying out a tax reform if we do not tackle the deeper problems of the Brazilian tax system, which is unequal, unfair, complex, expensive, lacking in transparency and, above all, the real “executioner” of millions of jobs due to the high tax burden they impose on the workforce.
Brazil calls for a tax reform that is the result of a broad debate, involving all sectors of society, with the participation of independent experts in the formulation of proposals.
That the impacts and legitimate interests of all sectors of society be evaluated, that stimulate the creation of jobs by relieving the payroll and the continuous growth of the economy,
The world is digital and demands a new “tax order” that reduces bureaucracy in its application, facilitates the tax payment system, brings savings and justice to taxpayers. This, yes, will be a tax reform, and not simply a tax reform.
Rogerio Bueno de Queiros He is president of the Paraná State Cleanliness and Conservation Companies Union.
