Finance Secretary discusses cuts in tax benefits with members of parliament.

247 - The Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Dario Durigan, participated this Wednesday morning (2) in a debate with deputies in the Finance and Taxation Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, focusing on the review of tax benefits and exemptions. The meeting included parliamentarians from different parties and discussed alternatives to raising tax rates, such as the IOF, whose proposed increase was rejected by Congress last week. The information is from g1.

According to Durigan, there is a willingness among parliamentarians to move forward with measures that reduce the so-called "tax expenditure"—as subsidies and exemptions granted by the government are known. "It's a debate that interests the government, interests the country, and also interests the leaders who participated here, including leaders from the opposition," the secretary stated during the meeting. The ministry estimates that the measure could generate a positive impact of up to R$ 20 billion in revenue as early as 2026.

Durigan also highlighted the importance of a well-drafted legislative text that guarantees legal certainty and fiscal effectiveness. “My role is to contribute and point out the issues so that we don't approve something expecting a certain result, only to find out, due to legislative technicalities, that it doesn't. Therefore, it's necessary to iron out the rough edges, refine the text so that we achieve this objective, which is shared by everyone: approving a text that yields a fiscal result,” he pointed out.

The rejection by Congress of the government's proposal to increase the rate of the Tax on Financial Operations (IOF) has reignited the debate about cuts in tax subsidies as a more viable alternative for balancing public accounts.

The chairman of the Finance and Taxation Committee, Representative Rogério Correia (PT-MG), advocated for the use of a bill approved in the Senate in 2023, which deals with the review of tax incentives, as a basis for advancing the issue in the Chamber of Deputies. “They [the Finance Ministry] will present us with a study. We will present a substitute bill in relation to that. We hope to achieve something with the government that is as consensual as possible. We have to achieve tax justice,” he stated.

Correia also said that Congressman Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), president of the Joint Budget Committee, signaled support for the direct processing of the proposal in the plenary, through a request, which could speed up the voting on the matter.