The government’s idea of financially compensating the states for the reduction of ICMS (Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services) on fuels is a “gambiarra” and would not have a guaranteed expressive practical effect for consumers, defends David Zylbersztajn, former director-general of the National Petroleum Agency (ANP), in an interview with CNN, this Wednesday (7).
“Who guarantees that distributors, sales outlets and the user himself, who in the case of diesel is represented, in the majority, by large companies, will pass the reduction on to consumers. There is no guarantee of results, apart from the huge bleeding of public accounts”, he says.
The government proposed this Monday (6th) that the ICMS –the main source of revenue for the states– levied on fuels, be zeroed with compensation to the states for the loss in revenue through a Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC). According to President Jair Bolsonaro, the measures could bring immediate effects to consumers.
“The most serious thing is that a possible reduction in the value of fuels at the pump is not so expressive in relation to the lag that already exists in these values and the possibility of new increases that are coming”, says Zylbersztajn.
“It is not a very comfortable situation for the states, which are paying a very high bill with no guarantees that they will be reimbursed”.
For the expert, the government’s lack of planning shows an electoral nature of the measure, which he calls a “gambiarra”. “It is not clear, for example, whether the amount of reimbursement that would go to the states would be BRL 25 billion or BRL 50 billion, a difference of 100% between expectations”.
According to Paulo Guedes, if approved, the PEC that deals with the measure would bring between R$25 billion and R$50 billion in value to the states. The project is expected to be presented to Congress on Wednesday afternoon.
“This was done at the end of the Temer administration, and the result was absolutely nil, with almost R$ 10 billion burned in the exhaust pipe”, he says.
See full interview in the video.
*Posted by Ligia Tuon
Source: CNN Brasil
