CPERS participated, on Thursday (1) noon, in the eighth edition of the Sefaz Debate, an event organized by Afocefe Sindicato, which brought together specialists of the Legislative Assembly to clarify the crucial points of tax and administrative reforms and how they will be reached. Public services, civil servants and the entire population.
CPERS President Helenir Aguiar Schürer was present representing the Front of Public Servants of Rio Grande do Sul (FSP/RS).
“I congratulate Afocefe for continuing this discussion that is so important for the population. This discussion should reach society, so that there is an understanding of why we pay so much and why there is so much tax evasion and what we think is more correct in terms of taxes. Let’s reproduce this discussion with Our class and in schools. Thus, the new generation will be able to see how tax distribution works in our country, ”said the president.
Alexandre Luzy Rodriguez, President of Afocefe, emphasized the importance of the debate to guide the community. “When we discuss what has been withheld, we question the fact that there are laws that come from the top down, like the big change that broke the federal agreement. That year, R$2.4 billion will be drained from public coffers. Next year, the estimate is more than 4 billion Brazilian reals He warned that these resources will no longer go to basic areas such as education, health and security.
The Minister of Finance, Leonardo Maranhão Pozzato, representing the State Governor, Ranulfo Vieira Jr. (PSDB), highlighted the importance of the initiative at the time of the transition of government. “The system that currently exists is very regressive. It penalizes the poorest and reduces the taxes of the richest class of society. What we are experiencing in Brazil today is almost a tax recourse. Tax reform is urgently needed to change our system, which is perhaps the most complex and regressive in the world.”
Alexander Breed, President of the State Court of Accounts (TCE), speaking privately to the CPERS President, stated that he made a personal request to the Governor-elect, Eduardo Leite (PSDB), to prioritize investments in education. Areas such as education, health and infrastructure are the basis for the development of society. I want to say that this is an appeal to the governor-elect to give full priority to education in our state.”
74.8% of the Brazilian tax burden falls within prices. In other words, it’s the people who foot the bill.”
In the first session of the debate, Luis Carlos Hawley, a seven-term federal representative, author of Super Simples and MEI and the General Elections Committee Rapporteur Changing the National Tax System, spoke about the social function of the tax in tax reform proposals.
Our economy has been like a chicken whose wing was cut off ten years ago. We are discussing the 2023 budget, but the 2022 budget is the same size as ten years ago. We didn’t have growth. Even with the labor and Social Security reforms, the economy hasn’t taken off. These repairs are actually expenses. The per capita income from 2011 to 2020 was zero. He said many sectors were lagging behind, especially public services.
74.8% of the Brazilian tax burden falls within prices. In other words, it is the people of Brazil who foot the bill. He warned that those who work to pay taxes are the poor, who pay 86% more taxes than the rich.
The President of the Institute for Financial Justice, Dow Real Pereira dos Santos, was the second speaker. “What we collect per person in Brazil is five times less than what is collected in the UK, with the same tax burden. In other words, we have a standard of public services that is five times less,” he warned.
For Santos, the state’s model of public services was not followed with regard to taxation. He stressed that “the tax system does not allow us to eradicate poverty and reduce disparities, as it was dominated by sectors that did not want the 1988 constitution.”
The speaker also noted that as of 2016, Constitutional Amendment (EC) 95 has condemned social spending to not growing for 20 years. “Precisely because these sectors have never accepted the construction of a social state.”
Among the challenges of tax reform, Santos highlighted that inequality is one of the most serious problems in the country. “The wealth of millionaires increased by 40% during the pandemic. This income inequality cannot be naturalized, it is the result of a tax system that privileges high incomes and assets. We need to take advantage of all the political possibilities to return to the collection of taxes on earnings and profits, the wealth tax, and shift the burden “Tax radically goes upstairs. If the poorest people have income and wages, economic activity works.”
“Fiscal austerity, which came into force with EC 95, is unproductive and wrong”
The topic of the second session of the meeting was “Guaranteing Fundamental Rights and the Role of Public Service in the Context of Reforms” and was attended by the Coordinator of the Counseling Course in Financial Education and Citizenship at UFRGS and Professor of Graduate Studies Graduate Programs in Economics and Social Policies Dr. Rosa Angela Chiesa, MA in International Economics and Politics, Levi Gerbasi, who conducts discussions on public policy at the Institute for Social and Economic Studies (INESEC).
“When 2 million adolescents, between the ages of 11 and 19, leave school in Brazil, and it is verified that in 2021 there were more than 44% of children under the age of 6 living below the poverty line, society needs to stop and speak out. Public Taxes,” stressed the committee’s moderator and legal director of Afocify, Claudia Meyer.
Dr. Rosa Chiesa tackled topics such as the myths and hidden interests of fiscal austerity, as well as addressing issues such as the waiver of revenue.
In her opinion, the analogy comparing public spending to the local budget is a fallacy that cannot be accepted. The logic of the general budget in times of crisis should follow the opposite of the local budget. The government can determine the size of its budget, the housewife cannot. When the government increases spending, it generates an income multiplier effect, creating private jobs, and growing the economy and revenues. He explained that a housewife cannot increase the wages of her children, for example.
He added, “Fiscal austerity, which came into force with EC 95, is unproductive and wrong, as it impedes the process of economic growth and contributes to deepening the financial imbalance.”
Levi Gerbasi, MA in International Political Economy, spoke on the guarantee of basic rights and the role of the public service in the context of reforms.
To the extent that tax incentives are introduced, public policy financing is defunded and thus the quality of public services is lost. In view of this, governments propose privatization. “It’s a cycle,” he said.
The discussions were also accompanied by Josara Borges, Director of Education Personnel at CPERS.
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