The president of the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), Ricardo Alban, criticized yesterday the increase in the Tax on Financial Transactions (IOF) and argued that the government should tax bets and big techs more and spare the productive sector.
“If we have to seek some kind of balance equation, we have other solutions. We cannot burden the productive sector, because, in the end, the one who pays is the consumer. It is not the productive sector, it is not the industry; it is the consumer,” he stated.
Alban was referring to online betting services and technology giants in his statement. At an event for Industry Day in Brasília, he thanked the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Hugo Motta, for his stance against the tax increase in X.
“Taxing big techs is a fair tax measure, because we have a whole communication channel of companies developed here [in Brazil] that bear the tax burden. So, we need to measure the size of this market to know what it means,” said Alban, at a press conference.
“I am grateful for the public stance regarding the increase in the tax burden. We are not against Brazil, but we are in favor of balance and common sense,” explained the president of the CNI.
According to him, the productive sector is willing to dialogue and build alternatives: “Count on us not only to criticize and say no, but to find solutions.”
The statement takes place amid the debate over the decree that increased the IOF on credit operations for companies. In a manifesto with other business entities, released yesterday, the CNI had already warned that the change makes financing more expensive and called for intervention by the National Congress.
“The main point is that there is no more room in the productive sector or even for our economy to increase the (tax) burden. This is a settled point. I expected that the issue would already be resolved.”
The president of the CNI also responded to a statement by the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, who earlier downplayed criticism from the private sector and said that the industry would understand the increase in the IOF, since it understands the increase in the interest rate by the Central Bank to contain inflation.
“The industry does not understand the increase in interest rates. That is not our thinking. Monetary policy, if it needs to be more restrictive, because fiscal policy is expansionary, there are several monetary policy tools. There is no single monetary policy that is limited to interest rates. This is the most short-term one,” he concluded.
Source: GMB
