Presidents of 7 Brazilian parties form pact against tax increases in reform project

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The presidents of seven center parties have signed an agreement for their benches in Congress to act against a possible increase in taxes during the analysis of the tax reform proposal sent to the legislature by the government of President Jair Bolsonaro.

Signing the document are the presidents of Citizenship, DEM, MDB, Novo, Podemos, PSDB, and PV. The party leaders also promise to work together to advance “a joint agenda that represents a better path for Brazil, different from the extremes,” says the note signed by them.

“As one of the points of convergence, they have established working with their benches in Congress against the increase in taxes in the country, which is proposed in the tax reform forwarded by the Bolsonaro government,” says the document released Wednesday July 7).

“These parties will work united to prevent the increase of taxes for the Brazilian people, damage small businesses and the generation of jobs, especially in this still delicate moment of pandemic.”

Also, on Wednesday, more than 100 business associations and entities signed a letter addressed to the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), in which they criticized what they called the rush in the processing of the tax reform, rejected points of the proposal and argued that the project discourages the attraction of productive investment, harms job creation and hinders economic growth.

The president of the Chamber, in turn, also said on Wednesday that the tax reform proposal -with the signature of the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes- will not be voted by the deputies until the text is mature.

“It is important to say that the concept is going in the right direction to correct distortions. We will not have a collection bias,” said Lira on Twitter. “The Legislature has the strength to debate and do the math. We will not vote on this text until it is mature and discussed with all benches.”