Court overturns increase in civil servant pensions.
State Complementary Law No. 100/2012, which increased the social security contribution paid by public employees of the State of Goiás; the vote of the rapporteur of the process, Judge Carlos Alberto França (photo), was unanimously supported; the Direct Action of Unconstitutionality was proposed by the Association of Magistrates of the State of Goiás (Asmego).
TJ-GO_ The Special Court of the Court of Justice of Goiás (TJGO) suspended on Wednesday (10) the effect of State Complementary Law No. 100/2012, better known as the Confiscation Law, which increased the social security contribution paid by public servants of the State of Goiás. The vote of the rapporteur of the process, Judge Carlos Alberto França, was unanimously followed.
"The Court's competence to judge the Direct Action of Unconstitutionality is not altered or excluded by the fact that the magistrates benefit from the suspension of the law, in accordance with the settled position of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), since it affected all public servants of the State of Goiás," justified Carlos França.
In his assessment, the law violates provisions of the State Constitution, while also contradicting norms of the 1988 Constitution, specifically regarding the preservation of financial and actuarial balance. He argues that increasing the social security contribution rate requires a thorough technical study, "because its absence prevents us from assessing whether the challenged rule preserves financial and actuarial balance, and also avoids identifying an equivalence between the estimated contribution amount and the corresponding benefits."
Furthermore, he noted that the government's justification for authorizing the increase is based on the budgetary deficit of the State's Single Treasury Account, which is allegedly committed to covering expenses related to active and retired personnel and pensioners, among other costs, but it does not mention any authorial calculation.
“There is evidence that the increase in social security contributions is carried out to obtain revenue to meet obligations arising from expenses unrelated to those linked to the corresponding social security benefits,” noted França, who also highlighted an identical decision by the Court of Rio Grande do Sul granting an injunction against state supplementary laws that authorized an increase in the rate levied on social security contributions from public servants.
Regarding the danger of delay, a prerogative for granting a precautionary suspension measure, Carlos França considered that, if the law is maintained, it would allow the collection of the increased charge starting on April 1st. The State and the Assembly will have 30 days to provide the information they deem necessary, and the State Attorney General's Office will have 15 days to appeal the decision.
Participating in the session and making oral arguments were the lawyer for the Association of Magistrates of the State of Goiás (Asmego), Ezequiel Moraes; the State Attorney, Bruno Bezerra, who spoke in defense of the law; and the Attorney General of Justice, Lauro Machado, who opined in favor of suspending the effects of the law. (Text: Aline Leonardo – Social Communication Center of the TJGO)