Sérgio Vale: Project for ICMS is practical, but the price effect is very little

The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), said this Thursday (19), that he will put to a vote next Tuesday (24) the law that classifies fuels, electricity, telecommunications and transport as essential goods and services, with a maximum ICMS rate of 17%.

The announcement comes less than 24 hours after the meeting between Lira and the Minister of Mines and Energy, Adolfo Sachsida. The parliamentarian demanded an action from the portfolio to avoid new adjustments in the electricity bill, already approved by the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel).

For Sergio Vale, CNN Specialist in economics, Lira’s bill is “practical, but in terms of price, it’s very little”. “The exemptions have been happening, but we are not seeing the price drop. I find it difficult to happen in this case,” he says.

Vale also believes that the change in ICMS would not be enough to avoid future fuel price readjustments. “There is a tariff increase that we should see from the distributors. You will not be able to completely curb this readjustment”, says the Specialist.

The initiative is strongly criticized by state finance secretaries, who predict billions in losses with the drop in energy and fuel collection.

For Vale, the resistance of the states can prevent the approval of the project in the Senate. “This can be approved in the House, but in the Senate, where the states have more strength, this measure will probably be barred”, he declared.

Vale says that the lack of progress on tax reform also undermines the discussion about singular tax changes. “The issue behind this is that, after three and a half years, we stopped talking about tax reform. We lost a lot of time to discuss this reform. Unify taxes in sectors, in some of them, we can already see the mess happening”.