Humberto Costa: Senate should approve income tax exemption this week, unanimously.
The president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (UB-AP), still needs to appoint a rapporteur for the bill.
By Leonardo Fernandes, Brazil of Fact - Following the unanimous approval in the Chamber of Deputies of Bill 1087/2025, which exempts formal workers earning up to R$ 5 from paying Income Tax and progressively reduces the rate for those earning up to R$ 7.350, it will be the Senate's turn to analyze and vote on the matter.
The 2nd vice-president of the Federal Senate and former president of the Workers' Party (PT), Humberto Costa (PE), predicts that the bill could be voted on in plenary this week. Costa spoke with Brasil de Fato about the expectation that the project will be given urgent status in the Senate.
“I believe the vote in the Senate should happen quickly. The information circulating even suggests that the Senate president himself has already said that it won't go through the committees, it will go directly to the plenary, that is, he will give this proposal urgent status. Therefore, I believe it's even possible that it will be voted on this week,” he stated.
The president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (UB-AP), still needs to appoint a rapporteur for the bill. According to Costa, the favorite is Senator Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL), who reported on a similar bill in the Senate, which even expedited the vote in the Chamber of Deputies.
“He, in a way, made a move that was important in the sense of voting on a similar project in the Senate as a way, a means of pressuring the Chamber to expedite this vote. So, of course, it could happen that the president [Alcolumbre] makes this choice as a kind of tribute. I believe he is a strong candidate to be the rapporteur,” said the senator, adding that, however, it is the responsibility of the Senate president to designate the rapporteur, and that he believes the choice will be someone who supports the swift approval of the proposal.
If the Senate makes changes to the text that alter its substance, the bill would need to return to the Chamber of Deputies, which would delay the approval and entry into force of the new rules. Senator Humberto Costa believes that the opposition may use the presentation of amendments to the bill, as they did in the Chamber, but without the strength to move any proposal forward.
“I believe it can happen, but I think they are in a very difficult moment politically, with difficulties in the actions they have taken, and many of them haven't worked. For example, this INSS CPI thing, nothing they have planned to put the government directly against the wall has had positive results so far,” said Humberto Costa, adding that, even with the obstacles imposed by some far-right senators, the vote should repeat the unanimity obtained in the Chamber of Deputies.
“And I also have no doubt that the result will be similar to what happened in the Chamber of Deputies, unanimity, because, in truth, nobody wants to be left out of this. There were some who were absent in the Chamber, and those who were absent are already being duly reprimanded on social media, all that stuff. So, I believe that a unanimous vote could also happen in the Senate,” he stated.
Political and economic impact
Regarding the merits of the project, the senator from Pernambuco said that the new rules will have "a huge impact" from both an economic and political standpoint.
"This additional resource that people will have, since it's a segment of the population that doesn't have much to save, it's very likely that this resource will return to the economy, to consumption, to an investment in some asset, something like that, which ends up causing economic growth to expand," the senator assesses.
"If it has a positive impact on the economy, it also generates a positive impact for the government," he added.
On the other hand, Costa points out that the measure addresses a sector of society that had been expressing "dissatisfaction" with the Workers' Party (PT).
"We are addressing a segment of the population that was dissatisfied with the government, that has a certain dissatisfaction with the PT (Workers' Party), because they believe that the PT only looks after the poorest, the most destitute people, and that the middle class does not receive any compensation for this work," the PT senator emphasized.
