"We are dealing with games through applications or on the web, we are finalizing the opinion, there are many suggestions for amendments. This week we will be dealing with it and in the final stretch it is possible that we will expand the project. For a milestone of this magnitude there are many suggestions and we are studying with the technicians," said the rapporteur, deputy Darci de Matos (PSD-SC).
For the author of the text, deputy Kim Kataguiri (UB-SP), the original project already includes apps and online games, considering "that most games today are not commercialized in physical media."
The project's objective is to stimulate the electronic games industry in Brazil by reducing taxation on products, currently close to 70%, equating electronic games with computer products, benefited by the Informatics Law (brings the possibility of credit for companies that invest in research, possibility of reducing ICMS for incentivized products, reduction of PIS for raw materials).
The text expressly excludes slot machines or other games of chance from the definition of electronic games. It provides for the use of games in classrooms, in therapeutic treatments and professional training, in addition to supporting the training of manpower for the electronic games industry.
President Jair Bolsonaro is a supporter of tax reductions levied on games. He has already promoted four reductions in the import tax (IPI), and in the last one, in June, he lowered the rate on purchases abroad of accessories for consoles and video game machines from 16% to 12%. For video games with built-in screens (portable or not), the rate was from 16% to zero.
In the Senate, it is still processing a proposal to amend the Constitution (PEC 51/2017) that gives tax immunity to video game consoles and games produced in Brazil. The text has already been approved in committees and is awaiting a vote in the Senate, but there is no forecast of entering the agenda.
Source: UOL Economia
