The government wants to reduce taxes for the entire industry.
According to the Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Fernando Pimentel, the payroll review will affect 15 sectors by the end of 2014. "This is a government that prioritizes fiscal austerity," he warned.
Agência Brasil - The government intends to reach the end of 2014 with the payroll tax exemption for all sectors of industry, said the Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Fernando Pimentel, this Wednesday (4). Last Tuesday (3), measures to stimulate industry were announced and, among them, the payroll tax exemption for 15 sectors.
“Committees have already been created to monitor tax collection in these sectors and, surely, next year we will be announcing more payroll tax exemptions. Our goal is to reach the end of the term with the payroll of the Brazilian industrial sector entirely exempt from taxes,” Pimentel declared upon leaving the meeting of the Brazilian Forum on Climate Change at the Planalto Palace.
The minister disputed criticisms that some of the announced measures were outdated. "What we did yesterday was consolidate new measures and others that are already underway into a single announcement. Those already underway concern the exchange rate; the rest is all new, and includes very important structural measures for the Brazilian economy," he explained.
Pimentel rejected analyses suggesting that the sectors benefiting from the tax breaks are those that have managed to get closer to the government to make their demands. “That’s not the case; this is a general policy. We are reducing the payroll tax burden on the industry as a whole. It has to be done sector by sector, cautiously, so as not to cause imbalances in the social security system, but our fiscal targets remain. This is a government that prioritizes fiscal austerity. Now, it’s being done; to misunderstand this is to have a great deal of bad faith in the analysis,” he said.